The Broken Chairs
by Deadborder
Summary: Set in something more-or-less resembling the Battle Story Universe. A quartet of Rookie Zoid Pilots enter the ZBC, in search of fame, fortune and glory. To get there, they must face opponent, rivals, criminals and arguments over the team name.
1. Pointy Muses Fic

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter One

By Rick R.

**oOoOo**

The black and green Redler passed over the busy city streets, its pilot watching the traffic below from through the green-tinted view screens. Below her, she could see a procession of Zoids and transports passing through the city. Even though they were restricted to their own special lanes, the queues were still substantial. Several large transports, Gustavs and Hovercargos and even a Dragoon Nest were amongst them, only serving to further congest the roads.

She was glad that her Zoid was flying over the city, keeping her away from the traffic. Up here was mainly transports; a handful of Whale Kings and Whale Sharks. A few airborne Zoids were amongst them, all following predesignated routes like she did.

There was a beep from the control panel as the Redler banked, heading towards centre of the city. Looking ahead, the pilot could see a series of large buildings that stood out form the area around them. The very scale of them was colossal, dwarfing the other buildings.

"NJR-397-44/GE, this is control." A voice came over the communications system. "Come in please."

"Ah… yeah." She replied as she fumbled with the switch. "This is NJR-397-44/GE." It was her Zoid's serial number, which it was currently broadcasting as an identity signal. "Go ahead."

"We have cleared your approach. Please follow the landing instructions and proceed to bay 45 west."

"Sure thing." She checked the navigational systems; they were indicating a flight pattern and specific bay. Disengaging the autopilot, she began the descent. The Redler descended, passing over the series of large arenas that dominated the city's centre and her objective.

A few minutes later, the Redler was down, sitting outside the bay. The cockpit swung open, its plot looking around.

"Aaah! Too bright!"

She ducked bellow the console for a moment, fishing around for something before emerging, a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes.

"Much better."

The female pilot stepped out of her Zoid. She was of above average height, and clad in a grey pilot's suit that seemed to show off her figure. She had long, straight brown hair and light green, almost yellow eyes that were hidden behind the glasses.

"Why's the sun always gotta be so bright?" She muttered to herself as she looked around at her Zoid. The Redler was a rather shiny black, with bright green wings and grey talons. A pair of flexible booster units were mounted on top of the wings, an unusual configuration for the Zoid.

"Tasch Stoermer?" A voice behind her began. She turned around to see a technician approaching, a clipboard in hand.

"Yeah, that's me." She replied. "What's up?"

"I'm just here form the commission. I need you to just sign a few things for us. Then we can park your Zoid and you're all ready to go. Oh, and I'll also need to check your ID"

"Uh, sure." She replied and took the board. It had been a long trip so far, going all the way from her home on the Dark Continent over here to the Eastern one. She'd set out to see the world. So far, it was going well. "This all okay?" She asked as she handed it back, along with her Battle Commission ID card and Zoid pilot's licence.

"Lesee…" He began. "You're from Nyx? We don't get many people from there. Most of the Guylos people we get are from the Western continent."

"Yeah." She replied. "I've been travelling a lot."

"Streormer? Is that ant relation to that guy from the old war?" He asked.

"Who?"

"You know, that Gilvader pilot? He destroyed the entire Republic army or something like that." The tech commented.

"Naw, I ain't related to him at all." She replied.

The tech shrugged. "Okay, here's your copy of everything." He handed her a copy of the form and her ID cards. "If you just want to bring your Zoid in, we'll check it up and make sure it's ready for the preliminaries tomorrow."

"Thanks. I just need to get some stuff from it."

"No probs." He replied as she climbed back into the Zoid. "Just be back here by nine tomorrow morning. They'll have the times for the preliminaries available by then."

Tasch stood up in the cockpit, a bag over one shoulder, seemingly ignoring him for the moment.

"Excuse, miss?"

"Isn't it bright today?" She asked. "And the sky's really blue too."

"Yeah." He said. "You got all you need?"

"Sure." She climbed out of the Zoid. "And thanks." She walked off, heading to the exits towards the city proper.

"Well that was… odd." The tech finished. "Nyxians. Go fig." He checked her form. Wait a sec… that couldn't be right. Unless… "Hey, miss! Excuse me!" He looked around, but she was gone.

"Well, I guess she already knows." He began. "Gotta admit, it's not the first thing I'd have expected."

**oOoOo**

Stephen Chesterton climbed off the bus, carrying his backpack with him. He was a tall, heavily built man with short brown hair and brown eyes, and a recently shaved chin. He was currently dressed in fatigue pants, a plain grey shirt topped off with a coat, and carrying his backpack and a rather large duffel bag that clanked as he walked.

He'd just arrived in the city along with his Zoid, along with about a billion other people, it seemed. And, like the rest of them, he was going to need accommodation overnight until the tournament tomorrow morning. He'd been stupid enough not to book in advance, and had to take whatever he could find. Fortunately, he'd been able to find a place in a Backpacker's hostel.

_Great_, he thought as he trudged up the steps to the entrance. _I'll probably have to share a room with a bunch of unwashed young yobs. _At the very least, he figured that most of the people cramming the city would be Zoid battle fans who'd come for the start of the season. So, at the very least, maybe stating that he was a Zoid warrior would get him some privacy and sleep.

He entered the building and approached the reception, trying to ignore the various leaflets littered around the place. "Scuse." He began. "My name's Stephen Chesterton. I booked a room here."

"Sure." The vacuous blonde behind the counter replied. She glanced down at a careen, then back at him. "You got any ID?" He handed her his Zoid pilots' licence. "Thanks fer that…" She tapped a few buttons on her computer, then handed him the card and a key. "Ok, you've got room B28. You go downstairs, and to the very end of the hall. It's the last room on your left, just by the laundry. Can't miss it."

"Thanks."

She handed him a pile of sheets. "When, you check out, just bring the sheets back up. Oh, and I need to ask if you're carrying nay weapons." She pointed to a 'No guns allowed' sign by the door. "Gotta check them if you are."

That seemed fair. At least she wasn't going to lecture him on how bad it was to carry them or anything like that. He reached into his coat and produced a large pistol and put it onto the counter.

"Thanks for-" She began, before he cut her off by putting down a second pistol. "Ok, thanks for-" He unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out two clips for the pistols, and put them down as well. "Thank you, mister-" He then reached into the bag and produced a massive combat shotgun, putting it down on the counter.

"Um, thank you."

"Do I need to fill in a form?"

"Er, sure." She replied. "I'll just need your name and some details and the serial numbers of these guns. You can pick them up when you leave."

"Not a problem." He filled in the forms, then handed them back to her.

"And, um, here's a ticket for the guns. You just present it when you, um, want to get them back." She seemed a little nervous.

"Anything else?"

"Oh no!" She squeaked. "That's fine, really! Thanks! Enjoy your stay."

He proceeded downstairs and down the hall, carrying his bags and blankets. The lower floor was rather gloomy and, he suspected, only used when the place was full up, like it was now. He reached his room; it looked the same as any other room on the floor, save for being right at the end.

He stepped into the room. Immediately, he was greeted by an unexpected sight; a young woman kneeling down to get something out of her backpack, her back turned to him. He couldn't help but notice that not only had her pants crept down as she kneeled, but she was wearing a g-string with a green triangular logo on the small triangle of material at the top… and that she had a rather shapely rear end.

"Um…" He began, unsure of what to say. He tried to concentrate on anything else. The rose and thorns tattoo that was spread across her shoulders was a good start.

The woman stood and turned to face him. "Oh, hi there." She began rather casually, either not knowing or not caring that he'd just gotten an eyeful of her rear.

"Hi." He replied, trying to act casual while getting a better look at her. She was rather tall and rather attractive, with a pleasing face and nice figure; not overly thin but rather fit. She had long, honey-brown hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing a pair of baggy khaki pants that came up way too short, a floral minitop that showed of her figure, and a black mesh top over that. He also noticed a rose tattoo on her abdomen, matching the one on her back, and a thon pattern winding down her right arm. He wasn't sure whether he should apologise for his inadvertent ogling of her, or just pretend it didn't happen and hope she didn't figure it out.

"You here for the Zoid battles?" She asked casually.

"Yeah." He replied. "I'm just staying here overnight before my turn in the qualifying rounds."

"So you're a pilot then." She replied. "Same here. Rose O'Bannon." She offered him her hand.

Rose, uh? That explained a lot. "Pleased to meet you." He took her hand and shook it. "Stephen Chesterton."

"So what do you pilot?" She asked.

"Iron Kong. Yourself?"

"Nice." She whistled. "I got me a Liger Zero. Just a base one though, I haven't got any armours for it yet." She smiled. "Of course, if I do well…"

"Yeah. So you on a team yet?" He figured that they were both in the same boat; amateurs that had no real experience in actual battles. He'd had a few test fights, and a couple of mock battles, but nothing that he'd have called a 'real' battle.

"Not yet, no." She replied.

"Me neither." Stephen admitted. "I've been looking for one though."

"Same here. Not much luck yet, but, well, maybe if I get a win tomorrow and start the competition with a few points it'll help things out."

"Hey, if all else fails, we could team up." Actually, he wouldn't mind working with Rose and getting to know her a bit closer. Certainly after what he'd seen of her so far.

"Yeah, we could to." She replied. "Anyways, I've already called dibs on the top bunk." She patted the bed next to her. "No idea if there's anyone else in here."

A knock on the door cut Stephen off before he could say anything. "You all decent?" A voice called out, then the door opened. A man entered; he was average height, possibly even a bit on the short side. Certainly he was a bit shorter then Rose. He had long, straight black hair worn in a ponytail and blue eyes, and was dressed rather casually in jeans, a grey shirt and a jacket.

"Hey." He began. "Anyone taking this bunk?" He indicated to the bottom bunk next to where Stephen was standing.

"Er, no." Stephen began.

"Cool." He threw his backpack on it, then stood. "Name's Neil Notbob." He began, and offered his hand to Stephen.

"Notbob?" Stephen asked as he shook Neil's hand.

"Yeah. It's a name. There's some of them in the phonebook." He turned around to Rose. "Hi!"

"Rose O'Bannon." She replied as she stepped forwards. "You here for the fights?"

"I'm in the qualifiers, yeah." Neil replied. "You guys?"

"The same." Stephen replied. "We're both amateurs here."

"Steve's got an Iron Kong." Rose began. She hadn't asked about using the shortened version of his name, but he didn't mind for now. "And I've got a Liger Zero."

"Beats me." Neil replied, holding up his hands. "All I have is a stock Gunsniper."

"Not bad." Stephen began. "You're getting a lot of grunt for your size there. And it's pretty agile."

"Yeah." Neil shrugged, then sat down on the free bunk. "'sides, in my price range, its pretty good." He continued. "So you two a team or something?"

"Us?" Rose asked. "We're just sharing a room. We've known each other for about five minutes now."

"Heh. Didn't think of that." Neil began. "I guess we all got the last room in the last place free in town." He eyed the remaining bunk bed next to where Rose was standing. "And so is there a claimant on that last bed? I just managed to scrape in here and they said they had a couple of spaces free, so I'm guessing its not taken by anyone you know."

"Not that I know of." Stephen replied. "But you'd need to be desperate or ill-prepared if that was your only option; the last bed in the last room."

"Yeah. And I can't see that happening." Rose commented.

"Ah!" A woman's voice called form outside. "B28. Guess this is my place then."

"Don't say anything." Stephen muttered. Neil shrugged.

A woman entered the room, carrying a rather overstuffed backpack. She was shorter then Rose, which still put her on the tall side, Stephen figured. She had long brown hair and light green eyes, with a pair of sunglasses pushed up onto her forehead. She was wearing an oversized black turtleneck skivvy and dull grey slacks. "Hey, this ain't so bad." She began. "Not too bright down here."

"Don't tell me." Neil began. "You're a pilot here for the qualifying rounds of the tourney, right?"

"Yeah, I am." The girl began as she entered the room. "How'd you guess?"

"We all are." He said, indicating to himself, Stephen and Rose. "We just all got the last room in the place."

"Funny that." Rose began. "I guess we all should have been here earlier."

"Yeah. Or we coulda booked in as a group." The woman replied. "'cept that wouldn't have worked, as we didn't know each other then."

There was a bit of a pause. "Well..." Stephen began. "At any rate, I'm Stephen Chesteron."

"Tasch Stoermer." She replied as she dumped her oversized backpack onto the last free bunk. "Pleased to meetcha."

"I'm Rose O'Bannon." Rose spoke up. "And this is Neil Notbob."

"Rose, huh?" Tasch asked. "Like the flower you got on yer belly, right?"

"Yeah." Rose replied, a bit put off for a second.

Neil got up, and offered his hand to Tasch. "If we follow pattern, you're just an amateur like the rest of us, right? No actual battle experience?"

"Me? No." She replied. "'cept for the fact that I flew here myself. But that don't really count, does it?"

"Flew?" Rose asked. "What Zoid have you got?"

"A Redler." Tasch replied.

"Well that would round things off nicely." Neil commented. "Redler, Gunsiper, Iron Kong-" He indicated to Stephen. "-And Liger Zero." He pointed at rose. "Nicely mixed much there."

"Yeah, actually." Stephen began. He considered this. They had firepower, speed, agility, a flying Zoid… actually, they were coming off as a rather well-rounded bunch.

"I'll say." Tasch began. "I mean, black, blue, white and shiney metallic grey. It is a bit of a mix."

…that too.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since an early breakfast, and it was getting late already. The daylight saving time around here was deceptive, he thought. "Hey guys?" He began. "I was going to head out to get a bite to eat. Anyone care to join me?"

**oOoOo**

Despite the best effort of both geography (the backpackers' being located on the outer edge of the city) and finances (virtually everyone was down to travel money and reserves for repairs), they'd managed to find a decent place to eat nearby. There was a reasonably local pub that, besides having decently priced beer also did great burgers. Neil had commented that this place was perfect for the backpacker market. The presence of a veggie burger (100 pure meat substitute!) on the menu had confirmed this.

"I mean, pure meat substitute?" He spoke up between bites from his own rather extravagantly sized burger. "What does that mean? It's got no artificial fake ingredients?" Stephen and Rose laughed at this idea.

"Actually, I think it means that they make it out of one type of substitute, like soy or something." Tasch added.

He looked at her, then shrugged. Tasch had been making a lot of good one-liners so far. Her comebacks were amazing, he thought as he reached across the table and stole one of the chips from Stephen's plate, then dipped it in the 'special' salsa on the side of Rose's plate. You'd say something, and then she'd come back with some other really weird line.

"Hey, that's my chip!" Stephen began.

"It looked lonely." He replied, and then ate it.

"Well, now it's got company." Tasch added.

Stephen nodded. "Good one. I'll pay that."

"So where are you guys from, anyway?" Stephen began. "I'm just trying to figure out how diverse a bunch we've got here."

"As if we could be any more diverse then our Zoids." Neil replied as he sipped his Mogla-Cola. "But I'm from Europa, myself." He began. "I'm from a small town none of you have ever heard of in the south-east of it."

"Go on, it can't be that small and boring." Rose commented.

"Oh, it can." He said. "On Saturday nights, the most fun you could have was to hang around at the Laundromat and play decade old video games."

"Wasn't there anything better nearby?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah, only about fifty klicks away." He shrugged. "It's why I got into Zoid battling; it gave me something to do."

"Huh." He replied. "Well, I'm about the opposite then. I'm from the Zenebas Empire originally. And I'm a big city guy myself. Born and raised in the wilds of the concrete jungle."

"So how did you end up here, joining the Zoid fights and all?" Rose asked.

"Well, I used to have a normal job." Stephen began. "But I got tired of it and wanted to try something else. I gave Zoid piloting a try and found that I liked it. And it was better then my last job"

"Which was?"

"Internet technical support." Stephen replied.

"So you found that shooting at other people was actually easier then trying to help them." Neil commented. "I can buy that."

"So how about you?" Stephen asked, turning to Rose.

"Well, I'm from the eastern side of the Hellic Republic. I'm originally a beach girl; you know, sand, surf, sun and all that."

Stephen all of a sudden found himself thinking about his first look at her, and then about what she'd just said. It was a pleasing enough mental image.

"For me, Zoid piloting was more of a family thing." She continued. "My father was a famous Zoid warrior, as is my older sister."

"So what did your mum do?" Tasch asked.

"Oh, she was a bikini model." Rose casually explained. "I got my looks from her and, hopefully, my piloting skills from him."

"Better then the other way around." Neil replied.

Rose laughed. "I guess so."

"Hmmm…" Stephen thought. "You're not related to Violet O'Bannon? She's a Zoid pilot, has a Zero Phoenix?"

"My older sister." Rose replied.

Stephen was suddenly liking this a lot more. Violet was one of the better Zoid pilots out there. If Rose was as skilled as her, then she'd be quite a pilot. She certainly was as good looking. Possibly better. Well, especially her rear end…

"So then, where are you from, Tasch?" Neil asked.

"Me?" She replied. "Oh, just a little town by the sea. Nothing to special, aside from the views." She admitted.

"The view?"

"Oh yeah." She replied. "On a good day, you can see the Chaoscape an' all the way out to the sea of Blood."

"...you're from Nyx, aren't you?" Rose asked.

"Yeah." Tasch replied. "It's a pretty neat place." She sighed. 'An' on a clear day, the sky goes a real nice blood-red colour when the sun's settin', so it kinda looks just like the ocean. It looks kinda romantic, actually."

There was another long pause.

"Hey, your last name's Stoermer, right?" Neil asked.

"Yeah?"

"And you pilot a Black Redler, right?"

"…yeah?"

"And you come from the Dark Continent, right?"

"…yeah?"

"You're not related to that Stoermer guy form the Dark Continent war, are you?" Neil asked. "Its only that he was from the Dark Continent, and he piloted a Gilvader, which is a big black dragon thing…"

"Why does everyone keep askin' that?" She replied. "I ain't related to him at all. 'sides, a Gilvader's nothin' like a Redler. Gilvader's a Wyvern and Redler's a Dragon."

"But it has four legs and wings." Neil offered. "Doesn't that make it a dragon?"

"Naw, it's a Wyvern. There's lots of differences." Tasch explained.

For some reason, with all this talk about the Dark Continent and black dragons, Stephen found himself thinking about Rose's underwear again.

"So you're trying out tomorrow as well?" Neil asked.

"Yeah." Tasch replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Just unexpected, that's all." He shrugged. "What with you in a Redler."

"I like Redlers." She replied.

"Well I guess that's fair then." Neil replied, then took another chip from Stephen's plate.

"I was thinking about tomorrow, actually." Stephen began. "We've got a diverse range of Zoids, but between us, we've also got no real experience. I was thinking that it may be better for us if we entered ourselves into the team competition."

"What, the four of us as a team?" Neil asked.

"Yeah." Stephen replied. "Think about it. We've got a large sized, heavily armed Zoid, a fast close-combat Zoid, a nimble support Zoid and a flying Zoid. It's a pretty good line-up."

"I like the sound of that." Rose replied. "But what if it turns out that one of us is fighting another one tomorrow? What are we going to do them?"

"Well, we'd fight, and then one of us would win." Tasch replied. "I'd have thought it was kinda obvious."

"We'll worry about it if it happens." Stephen commented, ignoring her for the moment. "And, as a bonus, any points we accumulate tomorrow would transfer over to our team."

"So, if we all win our fights tomorrow, that'll give our team a leg up at the start of the competition." Rose began. "I like that idea."

"Yeah. So all we gotta do is win. Unless we're fighting each other, in which case one of us has gotta win and the other one won't." Tasch finished.

Well, I guess you could put it that way, Stephen thought to himself. "So, what do you all think?"

"I like it." Neil began. "I figure that in a small Zoid, I'm gonna do a lot better in a team then on my own."

"Count me in as well." Rose continued.

"And me too." Tasch replied. "Cause if I don't fight any of you to start with, I may end up fighting you later otherwise."

Once again, Stephen couldn't find the fault with Tasch's rather strange logic. "So it's settled then. We'll re-register as a team after the qualifiers." He raised his glass. "So, everyone. It's going to be a big day tomorrow. Good luck to you all, and I hope you all win your matches."

"-unless they're against each other-"

"Unless they're against each other." He finished.

**oOoOo**

"Rise and shine everyone!" Rose announced as she threw open the curtains, letting the sunlight flood into the room from the beautiful, clear morning outside.

"Aaaah! Its too bright!" Tasch almost squealed. She ducked her head under her sheet, her hand searching around the end of her bed for something left there. Grabbing a pair of sunglasses, it vanished under the sheets. A moment later she sat up in bed, her glasses now down over her eyes. "Much better." She began.

Neil shook his head. He'd heard that people from the Dark Continent were sensitive to bright light, but he'd never actually met one. But then, very few people actually had. The Guylos Empire was rather insular and secretive, and very few people ever travelled beyond its borders.

Ah well, don't worry about it now. "Morning all." He began, enthusiastically. He was feeling rather good about today for some reason. Maybe it was because it was too bright and nice a day for anything awful to happen to him. Or it could just be Tasch's little act earlier.

The four of them were up, showered and dressed very quickly. After they rushed through their breakfasts, they wound up on the footpath outside, waiting for the bus to the arena. Neil noticed that there were a fair number of people there, and suspected most of them to be other Zoid warriors going to the tryouts.

"I wonder if I'm fighting any of 'em today." He muttered. The four of them spent the trip there casually talking amongst themselves. Well, three of them. Tasch seemed to spend a lot of her time staring out the window and occasionally adding something.

The arena itself was a rather impressive site. Most of the facilities and the like were underground, leaving the arena standing alone, separated from the city around it. This seclusion only seemed to make larger to his mind.

"Its pretty big, isn't it?" Tasch began as they stepped off the bus, along with most of the others onboard.

"Yeah." He replied. "Well, lets get going, guys."

"I shoulda bought my camera." Tasch muttered. "Oh well."

The four of them checked in with the arena staff and were directed to their hangers. They descended down to the hanger bas that were underneath the arena itself, passing the mazes of support equipment that made the arena possible. Due to the risks, the battles weren't done in front of live audiences. Instead, a complex network of cameras and sensors to record the battle from every conceivable angle. From there, the images of the Zoids and the battlefield were transmitted to a "virtual" arena where the audience were seated, and rendered as full-sized holographic images. That way the crowd could see the battles without the risk of being injured due to stray weapons fire.

They'd each changed prior to the start of their battles, swapping their casual wear for their flight suits. In the old days, people had just worn standard-issue uniforms provided by the military. Nowadays, in the big-money industry of Zoid battles, flightsuits were fashion statements.

Neil's flightsuit was a rather plain light grey, with several pockets on the legs. He wore a sleeveless vest over it that had a couple more pockets in it. It was rather simple and unexciting looking, but he liked it.

"Hey guys." He began as he stepped out of the change room. "All ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Stephen grunted. His suit was a dull khaki colour and, like his, rather plain in design. He wore a long grey coat over it with somewhat padded shoulders. Neil quietly suspected that he had room to hide several firearms under there if he wanted to.

Compared to the pair of them, Rose seemed to be on the edge of current fashions. Her suit was largely red with a black trim, save for the abdomen and lower arms, which were both made of semi-transparent tan materiel. "Likewise." Rose began. "So let's get out there and show 'em what we can do.,"

"Or show each other, if we have to." Tasch added. She was wearing a charcoal, form-fitting suit with a few grey areas that seemed to be emphasising some areas of her figure… Areas that he hadn't noticed as much under a baggy top. "Well, if we're fighting each other, which I hope we ain't."

"Yeah." Stephen replied.

"Could Tasch Stoermer please report to bay 45." A PA system called out. "Repeat, Tasch Stoermer, please report to bay 45."

"That's me." She began. "And they ain't callin' any of the rest of us, so that must be good." She smiled as she turned and walked off. "Well, I guess I'll see y'all later."

**oOoOo**

Rose had a couple of minutes to kill before her battle, so she'd gone prowling around, more of looking to see what she could find and what was happening. Also, if she bumped into some sort of incredibly skilled or famous pilot, she would have to see if they were interested in a slot on a rookie team. It wasn't that she was completely against Stephen's idea. Its just that she figured that her odds would be improved if she was on a team with a little more experience, even if it was only one man.

Something caught her eye; a glimpse of a Zoid in a bay as she was passing. She spied a blue and grey Koenig Wolf, a dual sniper rifle folded over its back. More interesting was the man working on it. He was tall, with long ash-blond hair that fell to his waist, tied off into a single long ponytail. At the moment, he was wearing a simple technician's jumpsuit, but didn't look the part of it at all. He looked more like a pilot, one of those rare ones that worked on their own Zoids.

"Hey, that's…" She began to herself. She recognised the pilot and the Zoid. He was Drake Storm, one of the top-ranking pilots in the league. A skilled pilot, he was also tall and handsome, yet cool and professional. She would have been the first to admit that she kind of liked him, Well, more then that, actually.

What was he doing here on amateurs day, she asked herself. Unless he was here to check out prospects, which would be perfect for her.

She quickly checked her hair and outfit, making sure everything looked okay. After all, it was the first impression that counted the most. She simply aimed to make a good one. Confident that all was okay, she turned to head into the bay. It may seem a little rude, but at the same time, the direct approach often worked.

Before she could enter, someone else cut her off. A blonde woman walked past her, entering the room. She was shorter then Rose, dressed in a miniskirt, cut off top, knee-high boots and jacket. _Who's this_, she wondered. _A fangirl or what?_

Drake turned, and started talking with the girl. Peering in, while trying to remain unobserved, Rose noted the red-and-yellow flame logo on her jacket. She figured it for a team logo, but couldn't figure out which one. As she was trying to place it, she noted the same one on Drake's jacket.

_A team? _She thought. _But he's never worked on a team before. Unless… Then it clicked. Oh crap. Someone's already beaten me to it._

She glanced in again. The blonde girl was laughing and talking to him, but she couldn't make out what she was saying. However, she noted, the girl was standing rather close to him… and maybe moving a bit closer. Figures.

"Could Rose O'Bannon please report to bay 70." The PA system called out. "Repeat, Rose O'Bannon, please report to bay 70."

That was her cue. Time for her to show the world what she could do. Leaving Drake and his friend for the moment, she headed back to the Zoid bay.

**oOoOo**

The Redler rose up on an elevator platform inside the hanger bay, then stopped behind a pair of massive doors. Tasch nervously waited inside the cockpit, anticipating what would happen next. She had no idea who she was facing or what they were piloting. She just hoped that it wouldn't be one of the people she had met last night.

"Excuse me, Ms Streormer." A technician standing outside the cockpit spoke up. She opened the canopy for a moment, then glanced down at him, realising it was the same one that had met her yesterday.

"Yeah?" She began. "What's up?"

"Um, you do know what you've entered, right?"

"Yeah, it's the tryouts." She replied. "They're for determining initial rankings and all that."

"Well, um, it's just you've specifically entered the tryouts for land-based Zoids." He replied. "And you've got a Redler."

"Yeah?" She continued. "And?"

"Well, um, while there's nothing forbidding you from using it in this battle…" He nervously continued. "Well, um, you're just not allowed to fly anywhere."

"Wha?" She began. "What do you mean I can't fly?"

"Well, if you go any higher then the top of the arena, you'll be disqualified." He replied. "It's a part of the conditions of the battle."

"So, um, what can I do?"

He shrugged. "Well, we thought you knew so… uh, you're in the battle. Unless you want to forfeit it and enter the competition unranked."

She considered this. She could give up now and loose, or go out there and face an unknown Zoid at a severe disadvantage. Neither one looked like a good option… but still, she wasn't about to give up, not so early and not like this.

"Well I'm going ahead anyway." She replied. "I'm gonna just have to beat him with a Redler that can't fly."

"Um… good luck then." He replied. "You'll need it." The technician scurried out of the way as she closed the canopy.

"Right. I got to do this. I gotta win." She looked ahead at the bay doors, ready to go. The hanger doors slowly opened, bright light flooding in from outside. "Owww… too bright" She began as the glare momentarily dazzled her. She blinked as the Redler's displays adjusted their brightness to compensate for it. Much better, she thought.

The Redler slowly walked out into the arena. Unlike most other aerial Zoids, the Redler did have some capacity to operate on the ground and engage in land-based combat. Only, well, it wasn't very good at it. Glancing around, she could see the battle commission's monitor drone hovering over the battlefield.

The other doors at the far end of the Arena opened, the opponent's Zoid entering. Zooming in on it, she could see what it was; a dull grey Command Wolf, sporting a long-range rifle on its back and a pair of missile launchers on its shoulders. She quickly sized the other Zoid up. It ran faster then her, was more agile and carried more weapons.

Okay, so that's not all good. But she still had some ideas.

"Tasch Streormer versus Bill Peterson." An electronic voice called out. Looking up, Tasch could see a battle commission surveillance drone hovering above the arena. "Both contestants confirmed. Arena confirmed." Tasch kept her eyes on the Wolf as she gripped the controls. "Contestants ready… fight!"

"Nice Zoid, lady." Bill called out. "But you've picked the wrong one for this fight."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna fight anyway." She opened up the Redler's throttle, while keeping its engine off. The Redler leaped out of the hanger, running towards the Wolf. Or, at least, it was trying what passed for a run for a Redler. In fact, it more of resembled a sort of skipping bounce, the Zoid basically bounding along taking short hops rather then actually running.

Bill had reacted almost as soon as the battle started, his Command Wolf setting off in a zig-zagging run across the arena. "Yeah!" He called out. "Let's see you try and… um… what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm runnin'! What does it look like?" She replied.

The Command Wolf shook its head and broke into a run again, trying to close the distance between the two Zoids. The top turret swivelled to face the Redler, the long-range cannon firing. The first shot sailed over the Redler as it landed from a bounce. The second went straight under it as it took off again.

"Damn it, stop playing around!" Bill shouted. "This is a fight!"

"I ain't playin'! Tasch called back. "I'm tryin' to fight!"

"They fight properly, you idiot!" he called out as the Command Wolf launched its missiles.

"I am!" She replied. She yanked hard on the control stick, slamming her feet down on the foot pedals and twisting them as she went. The two Flexible Boosters suddenly flared to life, and twisted sharply to the right. The Redler suddenly swerved to one side, faster then the missiles could respond to. Banking hard to catch her, they instead tore into the floor of the arena, leaving a trail behind the black Zoid.

The Redler surged towards the Command Wolf, now hovering just above the floor of the Arena rather then running along the ground. The Wolf twisted, leaping to the right and firing the twin cannons on its back. Again the Flexible boosters twisted, swerving the Redler out of the line of fire.

Tasch saw her chance as she closed in on the other Zoid. The Redler's tail blade flicked out as she closed in on the enemy Zoid, while she twisted the boosters again, trying to bring the tail in on the Command Wolf. The Command Wolf saw this, and again leaped to the other side, away form the tailblade.

"Nice try, girl." He called out.

"I ain't done yet!" Tasch called back. The Redler suddenly in the other direction, sliding in towards the Wolf with its talons pointing straight at the other Zoid, then boosted upwards to leap at it. There was an ear-piercing screech as the Redler's claws raked across the Command Wolf's side and top, tearing through its armour. The screeching intensified as she ripped into the turret, the claws tearing off the long-range cannon.

The Redler swerved and came to a rest on the other side of the damaged Command Wolf. The Wolf staggered on its feet, but managed to remain upright. "What the…" Bill began. "Damn it! I'll get you for that!"

The Wolf broke into a run, charging at the Redler. He didn't seem to fire his cannons, she noted. Maybe she got them as well. Instead, the Wolf was snarling, clearly going for the teeth.

"I ain't gonna let you get me that easy!" She replied. The Redler leaped and fired its boosters again, landing on the Command Wolf's back. The Zoid dug its claws in again, and then leaped away, accompanied by the sounds of tearing metal and components. The Redler spun around in flight and skidded to a halt on the arena, its claws trailing parts behind them.

The Wolf turned to face her, then suddenly collapsed, flat on its face. "Did I get him?" She asked herself.

"The battle is over!" A voice called out as the monitor drone moved in, hovering over the Command Wolf. "The winner is Tasch Streormer!"

"Yeah!" She shouted out to herself inside the cockpit. "I did it! I beat him! I won my first match!" She was happy; not only had she won her first ever real Zoid battle, but she'd done it against the odds too. And she'd had fun doing it, which was what counted.

**oOoOo**

"Well that was interesting." Stephen commented as he watched the battle on a monitor.

"Kinda fun, though." Neil replied. "I mean, a hopping, skipping Redler is very unusual and different." He smiled. "I like her, you know."

"Yeah." Stephen replied in a noncommittal way. "I guess she's all right."

"Could Neil Notbob please report to bay 86." A voice called out. "Repeat, could Neil Notbob please report to bay 86."

"That's me." Neil replied. "Guess I'll see ya later, buddy."

"Sure." Stephen replied, wondering when he'd get his shot."

**oOoOo**

Rose studied all the readouts on her Liger Zero's control panels, making sure that everything was working for the umpteenth time. She wanted to be sure that everything went okay on this, her big debut. She wanted to win this match; not just for the points and the boost to her initial ranking, but because she wanted to show everyone just what she could do.

They bay door opened, the Liger Zero stepping out into the midday sun. It was a very bright day out, she noted, with not a cloud in the sky. The arena was spotless, despite the numerous battles that had already taken place there today.

Perfect.

The door at the far end of the arena opened, her opponents Zoid stepping out. Like hers, it was a white feline Zoid. But it was also a lot bigger, and sported a large canopy instead of the Liger Zero's eyes.

A Blade Liger Mirage, she thought. Compared to her Zero, the Mirage was holding most of the cards. It had a higher top speed and better acceleration courtesy of the two boosters on its sides. And its energy shield would boost its defences. On the other hand, she was more agile. And we both suck at ranged combat, she thought.

The Mirage roared loudly, as if it was trying to intimidate its smaller opponent. Fat chance, she thought. Her own Zero roared back, sounding louder and angrier then its opponent. She didn't know if that helped, but it made her feel good. The other Zoid looked taken back for a moment, as if he was surprised that she wasn't afraid of him.

A small surveillance drone passed overhead, then stopped, hovering in the middle of the Arena. "Rose O'Bannon versus Karl Schnauzer." An electronic voice called out. "Both contestants confirmed. Arena confirmed." Rose smiled to herself. "Contestants ready… fight!"

_Ok_, she thought. _Let's do this, Zero._

The two Ligers broke into runs, heading straight for each other. The Mirage fired both its attack boosters and its back mounted boosters aiming to close the distance between the two of them as quickly as possible. "Predictable." She muttered as she swerved the Zero to one side, heading off on a tangent to her original course.

"You chickened out." Karl's voice came over her communicator. He sounded very smug and confident. Perfect. "Guess this won't take long. I'll rip that inferior Zoid of yours apart."

_Whatever_. The battle had only just started. She ignored him, instead focusing on what she was doing. The Zero made a sharp turn, then charged in at the Blade Liger, firing its impact cannon at the other Zoid's flanks. A pair of shots hit its side, tearing out chunks of its plating and exposing some of the systems below that. Karl seemed to have wised up to what she was doing, as he suddenly swerved, managing to evade a couple of her shots.

He turned, trying to bring his own weapons to bear on her. Unfortunately for him, he still had all four boosters running at full burn, drastically reducing his turning ability. The Blade Liger skidded as it went, sliding around in a wide circle. He abruptly killed the attack boosters, flipping them into their attack position in an attempt to improve his turning. All it managed to do was throw him off, causing him to skid some more.

Rose slowed her charge, turning to keep on the Liger's flank. She opened fire again, one of the shots blasting into the fins on the side of the Liger's head. Before she could fire again, the Blade Liger activated its energy shield, throwing off her shots.

The Blade Liger pilot stopped and turned his Zoid by the simple expedient of ramming shield-first into a wall and bouncing off it. Apparently undeterred, the pilot charged straight at Rose, dropping his shield and opening fire with the Impact Cannons. Caught off guard, she didn't have time to evade. One of the shots struck the Zero on the top of the head, slamming into the frill on top of the cockpit cover.

Rose tried hard not to scream as she was shaken around inside the cockpit, her Liger staggering under the impact. "Not so tough now, are we?" Karl shouted as his Zoid charged at her, the blades sweeping out from its sides. "It's all over now!"

Rose shook her head, blinking for a moment. Realising what was about to happen, she fired the Zero's boosters. Her Zoid charged forwards, leaping over the charging Mirage. No sooner had she come down then she charged away from the Mirage, aiming to make him turn again. At the same opened fire with the tail cannon, the shots tearing into the Mirage's hindquaters and legs, carving out a lot of the unprotected structure.

"I'll get you for that! Nobody gets away from Slash Schnauzer!" The Mirage pilot tried to circle around again to come back for another pass.

"Slash Schnauzer? Are you into gay dog porn or something?" Rose commented as she also turned her Liger. She was ready for him, and had figured what he would do next. And since he was determined to turn this into a close-quarters battle…

The Zero charged at the Blade Liger's side, remaining well inside the other Zoid's turn circle. As it closed, Rose readied her Zoid to strike. Golden energy built up around the Zoid's claws as it closed in, readying for the right moment.

"I've got you now!" Slash shouted as his Mirage turned a bit more, closing in on her..

"Yeah, right." She muttered. "Now!"

The Zero's boosters fired again, the Zoid leaping into the air, sailing over the Blade Liger's charge. The gold-glowing strike laser claws flashed in the air, then left a golden arc as they swung down, slicing through the Blade Liger's armour. The claws carved through the Blade Liger's shoulder, slicing apart the armour and systems underneath it. The Liger Zero leaped away as its opponent continued its charge, albeit momentarily.

The Blade Liger suddenly stumbled, its right foreleg collapsing and making a hideous metallic screeching noise as it tore free from the body. The Zoid skidded forwards, then stopped, lying on its side.

Rose's Zero turned around and stalked towards its downed opponent. She watched it from the cockpit, waiting to see what would happen next.

"The battle is over!" A voice called out as the monitor drone flew over the pair of them. "The winner is Rose O'Bannon!"

"Yeah!" Rose couldn't help but shout out. She'd done it; she'd won her first Zoid battle. She opened the Zero's cockpit, and stood up, arm in the air. "Oh yeah!"

"Hang on a minute!" A loud voice interrupted her. Looking down, she could see the Mirage's pilot had climbed out of his Zoid and was stalking towards her. He was tall, with a muscular build and ridiculously spiked black hair. His outfit got her however; it was a ludicrous, skin-tight blue bodysuit with armoured plates in several places.

_Who is this clown?_ She asked herself. "Hey!" She called out. "What's up?"

"You cheated, that's what!" He shouted.

"What?" She was taken aback. As far as she could tell, she'd done everything clean and by the rules. _Was there something going on here? Was it against the rules to dodge him or something?_ "What did I do?"

"You deliberately aimed at my cockpit!" He shouted, pointing back at the Mirage's body.

"Huh?" She began, then looked over at it. Sure, she'd hit the side of its head and knocked out some of the shield generator fins, but that was nowhere near the cockpit. "Hey! She shouted. "I came nowhere near your cockpit!"

"Yes you did! Don't pretend you didn't!" He shouted. "Judge! I want her disqualified! In fact, I want her fined and banned too!"

"Huh?" Rose replied. "Hang on! You damn well shot my cockpit!" She could see the burnt mess that had been the Zero's top fin from here. As far as she could tell, she was lucky to have been unharmed. "Judge! He shot my cockpit!"

The drone hovered down between the two pilots. "Deliberating." The electronic voice began. "Analysing combat data. Playing back records."

"You are so busted." Slash began. "You're career will be over!"

"Just hang on a minute, Slappy." She replied. "Wait to see what the judge says."

The two watched each other in tense silence for a minute as the judge contemplated the situation. "The Battle Commission has reached a verdict." Slash smiled, a smug look on his face. "We rule that Rose O'Bannon did not deliberately fire on Karl Schnauzer's cockpit."

"What?" He shouted.

"Furthermore, we rule that Karl Schnauzer did deliberately fire on Rose O'Bannon's cockpit. It is the verdict of this judge that Karl Schnauzer be fined two thousand ZBs and be penalised five competition points."

"This is an outrage! I demand a retrial!"

"Sorry, boy." Rose replied. "Better luck next time."

"You!" He shouted. "I'll get you for this! And you-" He turned to the judge. "I demand a retrial! This is totally unfair!"

"It is the verdict of this judge that Karl Schnauzer be fined five hundred ZBs for baselessly and needlessly disputing a judges ruling." The floating drone levitated up and away from the battlefield.

"Sucker." Rose said, and smiled.

**oOoOo**

Stephen watched the battle from a monitor in the Zoid hanger. He smiled as he watched Rose in action, observing her technique and the skills she used against the Blade Liger. _She's good, he thought._ He winced as the shot hit the Liger's head, but was relieved to see her shake it off and keep going.

She'll do fine, he thought as he watched her come back and attack the Blade Liger. Glancing up at his own waiting Zoid, he could only wonder who he was fighting, and if his battle would go so well.

**oOoOo**

Neil's Gunsniper stepped out of the bay and into the arena. As he suspected, he was the first out; it'd gone that way for everyone else so far. Maybe it was a luck of the draw thing, he thought. Oh well, not to worry. Just so long as he didn't get put up against anything too nasty, he figured he'd be fine.

The doors at the other end of the arena opened, his opponent's Zoid steeling out. Neil blinked a couple of times, wondering if he was seeing things or if this was some kind of a joke. Nope, it was real.

The enemy Saberlion roared at him. Well, it tried to at least. Somehow, it just wasn't that intimidating or impressive. Especially not when he considered that the enemy Zoid was half the size of his.

"Uh, hey?" Neil began. "You don't think that, um, you may have been a bit mismatched here?" Well, a bit was an understatement. More like a lot." He did think that it wasn't the best match. He kind of had it all over the Saberlion.

"No way!" The other pilot shouted back. He sounded like an overenthusiastic kid, Neil thought. "Me and Saberlion are not gonna back down from anyone!"

"Oookay then." Neil replied, the Gunsniper raising its claws. "Your call."

The surveillance drone passed over the pair of them, then settled in the centre of the arena. "Neil Notbob versus Kuro Onishi." An electronic voice called out. "Both contestants confirmed. Arena confirmed." Neil shrugged. Maybe he got the luck of the draw on this one. "Contestants ready… fight!"

The Saberlion charged forwards, sprinting across the arena floor at him. Not what Neil would have done, he thought, but still… The Gunsniper turned and ran, sprinting across the arena to one side, out of the way of the Saberlion's charge.

"Look, um, kid, I'm gonna feel bad about this." Neil called out. "You sure you want to do this?"

"You'll feel worse when I'm done with you!" Kuro called back.

"Fine. Be like that." The Gunsniper turned its arms towards the Saberlion wile still running, and opened fire with its dual gattlings in the wrists. Several shots peppered the Saberlion before it abruptly changed course, sprinting away from the Gunsniper.

Neil took off after it, firing as he went. Opening up its throttle, Kuro increased the distance between the two of them, weaving out of the way of the Gunsniper's line of fire. The small Zoid scampered up against one wall of the arena, then stopped, snarling at him.

Neil bought the Gunsniper to a halt, momentarily considering his options. Despite its small size, the Saberlion could still be dangerous to him if it closed and used its head blade. Simple solution, he thought. Don't go near it.

The Gunsniper opened fire again, remaining still while spraying fire at the enemy Zoid. He was happy to keep his distance for now. The Saberlion was hit a couple of times before again breaking into a run, trying to evade the Gunsniper's fire.

"Hey!" Kuro shouted out. "You're not playing fair!"

"Huh?" Neil asked. "What do you mean? I'm fighting you. That's how it works."

"You're supposed to come closer to me so I can fight you!" He called out. "You're cheating by not letting me get close!" The Saberlion ducked and weaved between several shots, then charged at the Gunsniper.

"It's not really cheating." Neil replied as the Gunsniper scooted away from the Saberlion's charge. The Velociraptor Zoid skipped out of its way, then sprinted across the arena. Turning around, he opened fire again "Its more of thinking tactically. Deny your enemy any advantage you can."

The Saberlion took several hits and skidded to a halt. The small Zoid lay on the arena ground for a moment, before rolling back to its feet. "You're just a chicken!" Kuro called out as his Zoid roared loudly. "You're afraid to fight fair!"

"No, I'm just smart." Neil replied. "I know how to win." In truth, he was feeling a bit bad about beating up on this kid. The guy just didn't seem to know what h was doing, and had been thrown into a fight that he probably couldn't win. Neil wondered if someone in the battle commission had done this deliberately, or if it was just a random matchup.

"No way! I'm not going to let you win!" he shouted as the Saberlion charged straight at the Gunsniper. Neil opened fire with both gattlings and the chest-mounted beam launcher, spraying shots at the charging Zoid. The Saberlion was hit and rolled over, skidding along on its front before coming to a rest.

Neil watched the Zoid for a second, checking to see if it was moving. He was just worried that he may have hurt its pilot. Attack Zoids often had poorly protected cockpits, which was one of many reasons why they were unpopular in the arena. A moderator drone buzzed overhead, and checked the two Zoids. "The battle is over!" It announced. "The winner is Neil Notbob!"

"Well…" Neil began as he shrugged to himself. "I guess you just did."

**oOoOo**

Tasch had left her hanger, having completed the post-fight check-up of her Zoid. It didn't appear to have suffered any damage during the battle, so it was a rather quick and simple process.

She'd decided to take a walk around while she was waiting for the others to finish their battles, just to see what was going on, or to see if she could catch any of the others battles. She was hoping that they all did well and won theirs.

She turned a corner, coming across a large wall-mounted monitor showing the current battle, with a small crowd of people gathered to watch it. Most of them looked like technicians and support personnel, but there were a few pilots amongst the audience. One of them, she noticed, was Rose.

"Hey there." She began as she approached the other pilot.

"Hi." Rose replied, a bit distracted. Looking around, Tasch could see that she was watching the battle in progress on the screen. A blue Koenig Wolf was currently firing on its opponent, a Dark Spiner. As she watched, the Spiner took several hits to its flank and upper leg, staggering in place.

"How'd your battle go?" She asked.

"I won." Rose casually replied.

"Well that's neat." Tasch continued. "I won my battle too, even though it turned out that I was in the wrong battle to begin with." She explained. "Silly me, I'd entered the land battle tryouts instead of the aerial ones."

"Oh."

"So I had to fight a Command Wolf, and I wasn't allowed to fly." Tasch continued, not noting that Rose wasn't really paying attention. "But I managed to beat him when I leaped on his back with my Redler's claws."

"Oh. That's nice."

"So who did you fight?" Tasch asked, rather curious.

"Um, a Blade Liger." Rose replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. The Dark Spiner was trying to limp out of the way of the Koenig Wolf while firing its one remaining cannon. The Wolf was proving to be rather good at avoiding the Spiner's fire while it closed.

"Hey guys." Neil spoke up as he approached. "How's things?"

"We won our battles." Tasch replied.

"I saw yours." Neil commented. "Nice stuff there. That whole 'Hopping Redler' thing was very interesting. How'd you think of it?"

Tasch shrugged. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time. And it worked, so it musta been"

"Well, he certainly didn't seem to expect it." Neil stated. "But then, neither did I." He smiled. "Hey Rose, how'd things go with you? I didn't see the battle."

"Me?" She asked, glancing at him for a moment. "Oh, I won. I beat a Blade Liger."

"Battle of the Pointy Kitties, huh?" He commented.

"Yeah." She continued watching the screen. The Koenig Wolf leaped at the Dark Spiner, sinking its fangs into the other Zoid's neck. The Spiner roared out as the Wolf's fangs discharged their energy into its body, shorting out its systems. The Wolf leaped off the large dinosaur Zoid which swayed on its feet for a moment before collapsing on its side.

"The battle is over!" The voice of the battle commission's monitor came over the speakers. "The winner is Drake Strom!"

"Drake Storm?" Neil began. "How ridiculously macho."

Rose turned and glared at him.

"Wha?" He began. "I was just sayin', that's all."

"Boy, that Koenig Wolf looked tough." Tasch spoke up. "I'd hate to have to fight him."

"Me too." Rose commented. "But on the other hand, he'd make for a great team member."

"Yeah, but we already have a full team." Tasch commented.

"Well, I guess we'll see how Stephen does then." Rose replied.

Stephen checked all the systems of his massive Iron Kong as it waited inside the hanger bay. He'd been giving its systems one final check before the battle started, just to make sure that everything was in order. So far, it all looked good.

So far, things had gone well for their small group. Neil had gotten away with a stupidly easy win courtesy of a weak opponent. Rose had also gotten off well, mainly because her opponent didn't seem to know how to use his Zoid properly. And Tasch… well, her win had been surprising; both that she'd beaten her opponent and the way she did it. So now it was his turn.

The hanger bay doors opened up, his massive Iron Kong stepping out into the arena. The huge metallic grey and red Zoid knuckled its way out of the hanger, then stopped, waiting for its opponent. Stephen wondered if they'd be ready for what he was packing. His Kong not only boasted a CP-11 manoeuvre thruster unit, but it also boasted an extra set of weapons that were originally designed for the Iron Kong PK. Some Guylos company had, of late, taken to packaging them with standard Iron Kongs. He didn't mind. It meant he had more firepower.

_OK, let's see what I'm up against, _he thought,

The bay at the other end of the arena opened, providing him with his answer. A large, tyrannosaur-shaped Zoid stepped out from the hanger, its shiny grey and purple body glinting in the sun. So, it's a Genosaur. He began. Nasty piece of work too. He knew that the Genosaur's CPC could knock him out of action in a single hit. Or at least, it would if he let it.

Unusual colours though, he thought. He'd never heard of a shiny grey Genosaur before. Flat black, yes, white, yes, but not like that. Odd. The other Zoid stopped just outside its hanger, staring straight at his. It growled, and then roared loudly as the hanger dors closed behind it.

The Battle Commission drone passed over his Zoid's head and then stopped in the middle of the arena. "Stephen Chesterton versus Ariel Mychelle." The electronic voice announced. He recognised the name of his opponent; she had been an up-and coming pilot until she abruptly dropped out of the competition midway through last year. Now, apparently, she was back. Interesting. "Both contestants confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

Stephen had figured the Genosaur pilot's likely response straight out, and had already figured a counter of his own. He stomped on the Iron Kong's foot pedals and twisted them sharply to the right. The Kong's boosters fired, its manoeuvre vanes twisting to propel him swiftly to the right. At the same time, he launched the two tactical ballistic missiles on his Zoid's back.

The Genosaur's pilot seemed to be monetarily taken back by this, opening fire on the space that he had briefly occupied. However, she quickly recovered, her Zoid leaping into action. The Genosaur twisted around, charging towards the Iron Kong.

The first of the ballistic missiles didn't react fast enough and ploughed into the arena floor where the Genosaur had been, detonating in a brilliant fireball. The second one remained a little closer to target, but fared little batter. The Genosaur's twin back cannons twisted around, opening fire on the incoming missile. Several shots struck it, detonating it in mid-flight.

_So much for that_, he thought. Still it had given him a chance, one that he intended to exploit. The Kong landed, then leaped away again, leaping across the Genosaur's path. Seeing his chance, he opened fire with the Hyperbeam cannon on the Zoid's shoulder, sending shots at the enemy Zoid.

The first one hit the Genosaurer, blasting armour from its flank. The pilot was fast, however, twisting her Zoid around and leaping out of the path of the next few. "She's good", he muttered as the Genosaur swung around and opened fire with its own back cannons. Stephen twisted the footpedals, to bring his Zoid around, but didn't quite manage it.

Several shots tore into the Iron Kong's heavily armoured chest, gouging out huge chunks of armour. Several more narrowly missed him, but came far closer then he would have liked it. The force of the blows staggered his Zoid, sending it momentarily reeling back.

The Iron Kong crashed to the ground, Stephen barely managing to keep it upright through clever use of the boosters. His Zoid wavered in place, then settled for a moment. His opponent wasn't going to give him a chance, however. The Genosaurer lunged at him, opening fire again.

Stephen desperately fired the boosters again, the Iron Kong leaping out of the Genosaur's way, at the same time, he fired the shoulder-mounted missile launcher. So she can get one missile, he thought. Let's see her get ten while she's charging. The rockets slammed into the Genosaur's side, enveloping it in flames and smoke.

_Did I get her?_ Stephen asked as the Iron Kong landed. As if to answer his question, the Genosaur lunged out of the smoke, baring its fangs at him. He twisted the controls, the huge grey Zoid barely avoiding the smaller one's charge. As it twisted around, he opened fire with the wrist-mounted pulse cannons. The shots peppered the Genosaur's flank, but wasn't enough to put it down.

The black Tyrannosaur spun around, firing its back cannons as it went. A couple of the shots hit the Kong's chest, again shaking the Zoid. "Crap!" Stephen shouted to himself. Any more of those and he was through. The Genosaur charged at him, aiming to take advantage of his momentary weakness. He desperately rolled out of the way, the Iron Kong interjecting its right arm in front of the Genosaur's charge.

A plan formed in the back of his head. It was risky, but it might just work.

He fired the boosters again, twisting the vanes so he leaped away from the Genosaur. This time, the Iron Kong leaped backwards, trying to get out of the way of its opponent. The Genosaur followed, firing its own boosters as it leaped intro the air, snapping at him.

Just what he'd expected. He suddenly reversed the direction of the boosters, so the Kong was leaping forwards again. The huge Zoid descended, heading straight for the Genosaurer, swinging its arm around in a massive punch. Its huge fist smashed into the side of the Genosaur's head, crushing the armour plating and sending the other Zoid reeling with the force of the blow.

The Genosaur crashed to the ground, skidding along on its side for a moment before stopping. The Iron Kong, on the other hand, came down on its feet. Stephen could see a chance to end this, and took it. The Iron Kong opened fire with its Hyperbeam cannon, tearing huge chunks out of the Genosaurer's underside. The enemy Zoid bellowed in pain, and then collapsed.

A monitor drone flew over the pair of them, surveying both Zoids. "The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause. "The winner is Stephen Chesterton!"

"Cool." He muttered to himself.

**oOoOo **

The four of them had met up after Stephen had finished his last battle. There were a few more fights scheduled for today, but they didn't feel like hanging around for them and spending their time mugging the monitors. Instead they decided to go out for drinks, so they could discuss their plans from here.

"And then…" Neil excitedly continued as he gestured wildly with his hands, trying to indicate the locations of a pair of Zoids. "Well, the kid in the Saberlion basically chucks a tempter tantrum, saying that it's not fair that I didn't come over there and let him attack me with his sword. So I said that I was just trying to win the battle, which made him cry even louder."

Both Rose and Stephen burst out laughing at this. "So who was that kid?" Stephen asked. "And what the hell did he think he was doing in a Saberlion?"

"Maybe he thought that he had some kind of midget Blade Liger, and was looking for the E-Shield switch." Rose commented.

"Yeah. An' he thought he could fit a CP-12 onto it as well." Tasch added. "Well, it could happen."

Neil noticed that she was the only one of them who wasn't drinking, and yet she seemed to make the least sense. Odd that. "So, what's the plan from here, guys?" He asked.

"Well, we've put in for the team registration." Stephen replied. "We'll probably get a confirmation of registration tomorrow sometime. After that we'll need to get ourselves a place to live. We can't house our Zoids at the arena indefinitely."

"Right." Rose began. "So as soon as we know we're confirmed, we go house hunting. So what about matches?"

"The commission should handle that." Neil commented. "They'll set us up for a battle as soon as we're ready. The good news is that the team competitions haven't begun yet; there's usually a week before they get going to allow for the organisation of new teams like ours."

"So then we've got everything under control." Rose finished. Her assessment of this team had been going up. They'd all won their battles today and done reasonably well at it. And Tasch had proven to be a very surprising pilot. She wondered if it was just a one-off, or if there was more to her piloting abilities.

"'cept for a name, that is." Tasch finished. "We'll need to think of something there."

There was a long pause. Nobody at the table seemed to have thought of that one.

"Don't worry about it now." Stephen replied. "We'll think of something."

"That's fair." Tasch replied. She wasn't too worried about the team's name for now. Instead, she was happy about what'd happened today. She'd met a whole bunch of people, gotten herself onto a team and won her first ever Zoid battle. Not bad at all.

Things were looking good.

**oOoOo**

Author's notes:

This fic was born out of random muses poking me. I wanted to write some sort of Zoids battle fic, but one that was more serious and realistic then RCZF. It was then encouraged by Tilly and Steve, who happily fed the muses and made me write it by poking me a lot. Thanks, guys.

Tasch is not at all related to Stoermer the overly-dramatic Gilvader pilot. This is not a spoiler. This is a fact.

Rose's Guylos-logo g-string is available from Phenotype's cafepress store. No, really.


	2. Team Without Name

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Two – Team Without Name

By Rick R.

**oOoOo**

When Stephen, Neil, Tasch and Rose had decided to form a team, they had been thinking about all the benefits of joining the team competition. Nobody had figured on just how much work it would take to get the team all set up. And they had only a week before their first battle to do it in.

The first thing they needed was a team base. As it stood, none of them lived in the city, which meant that nobody had a permanent place to stay. Their Zoids were housed at the arena, but that was at best a temporary accommodation. The hangar rental at the arena was pretty steep, to the point were actually buying their own base would be cheaper.

Of course, first they had to find one.

There were a lot of purpose-built team bases on the market. There were also a lot of older buildings that had been built for a different use and then converted over to bases. And, finally, there were a lot of buildings that were suitable for conversion to bases. The latter types had one big advantage, being that they were a lot cheaper to buy.

The big problem was most of what was on the market had been bought out between competition seasons. Most of what was left was being fought over by the teams that were forming after the initial trials and before the season proper. Teams like theirs.

They'd spent some time pouring over classified ads, both in print media and online. In the end, they'd found a handful of good leads on buildings that were usable and, more importantly, within their price range. Economic realities meant that most of what they had would end up being spent on their Zoids, so they couldn't afford to splurge out on something too elaborate or pricey.

The first two days had been fruitless. However, at about midday on the third day, Rose had called them all to excitedly declare that she had found them a great potential base, and that they should all come around and take a look at it. She'd already arranged to meet an agent for a formal on-site inspection, but she wanted the others to have their say as well.

"Nice looking." Neil began as he arrived on site, sidling on up next to her. "Really attractive in that whole dismal grey concrete way."

Rose would have been the first to admit that it wasn't quite what the ad had spelt it out to be. She'd read that it was a disused industrial property suitable for use as a team base. What it actually amounted to was a derelict factory that had clearly seen better days. In truth, it probably wasn't a very attractive place when it was new. But now…

"Yeah." Tasch continued. "And the colours flow together well, with the brown rust just providing a nice bit of contrast."

They all turned to look at her. Rose couldn't decide if Tasch was always like this, or if she was just being spacey because she was new to the city. She hoped the latter. She wasn't sure if she could live with her otherwise.

Stephen rubbed his chin, stroking his morning's growth. He'd forgone shaving in order to get an earlier start on the house hunting. "Well, it looks like it's big enough to handle our Zoids." He began. "Question is, what else does it have to offer?"

"There's a couple of broken windows over there." Neil offered unhelpfully.

Rose glared at him. "Aw. Come on." She began. "Its cheap, and that has to be a big plus. Besides, I don't see any of you offering us a better alternative."

"There's a nice little place I know which would make a great base." Tasch offered. "'cept its near where I live, which is on Nyx… so it's probably not that much use."

"…are you always like this?" Rose asked.

"Like what?" Tasch replied, confused.

Stephen stepped between the two of them before Rose could do or say anything else. "Okay, calm down you two. We'll take a look at this place Rose has found and see if it's any good. There's no need to kill each other before the agent's even arrived."

As if on cue, a small car pulled up next to the four of them. The driver, a woman in her mid thirties with rather large blonde hair that seemed to have been glued in pace and a rather stylish blazer, stepped out and walked over to them. "I'm Betty Cleveland form the agency." She introduced herself in a brisk, businesslike way. "I'm going to assume one of you is Rose O'Bannon?"

"I don't know." Neil began, whispering into Tasch's ear. "But I'd guess the girl in the floral top with the rose tattoo would be the one."

"You think?" She replied. "'cause you might think it was someone else."

"That's me." Rose began.

"Right. Well, I'm here to show you guys the place. Let's get started." Betty continued in a brisk manner. She pulled out a set of keys and fumbled with the lock on the front gate for a minute before opening it and stepping in. "Well, come on."

Shrugging, Neil followed her inside the factory's yard, with the others behind him.

"As you can see, it's got lots of space for your Zoids to stand around in or whatever it is you want to do wit them." She said, waving her hands around at the vast expanses of empty concrete. A few rusted barrels, some grass growing between cracks and a handful of puddles provided for the only real break from the otherwise unbroken flat grey landscape.

"Dull grey concrete. Very nice." Neil commented, then glanced over at Tasch. "Never mind."

She opened a door at the front of the main building, which was located next to a huge main door. Quickly sizing it up they could see that it was easily big enough to accommodate Stephen's Iron Kong. "Okay, here's the place itself." Betty continued as she stepped inside.

"I'm guessing that someone here doesn't really like Zoid pilots." Stephen noted.

"No, she's crazy about us, I can tell." Neil replied.

"Well, lets stake a look at the place." Rose continued, trying to keep things on track. "At the very least, can we get it over and done with?"

They stepped inside, arriving in what would have been the main factory area. Now it was mostly empty, leaving just a huge room. Betty flicked on the lights, which came on after a few flickers. Looking around, they began to take in its features. The room itself was huge, easily big enough to fit all their Zoids in with plenty of space to spare. The floor was bare concrete with the walls similarly undecorated, and the roof being little more then a few hanging lights dangling form the ceiling.

"As you can see, the place has facilities for you to get into and out of your Zoids and do repairs on them or stuff like that." She continued, her voice taking a distinctly bored tone. Several landings and gantries remained from its days as a factory, a bit rusted but clearly still usable. As Betty had indicated, they would be useful.

"So what's it got to offer besides Zoid parking facilities?" Stephen asked.

"There's a pre-equipped kitchen that can easily be reconditioned." She explained. "As well as extensive bathroom facilities."

"And living quarters?"

"There are a number of offices that are suitable for use as bedrooms." Betty continued, adopting a casually disinterested tone. "And the living rooms come fully furnished."

"Fully furnished?" Rose asked. "What do you mean by that?"

A quick tour had revealed that she meant 'there's a lot of left over office furniture lying around that you may or may not be able to use.' There was even a storage room full of what were clearly non-functional computers, seemingly forgotten or possibly dumped there.

The building itself hadn't yielded too many surprises. It seemed to be structurally sound and there were no obvious problems with it. It was a little run down; with peeling paint, cracked tiles and a few broken windows. On the other hand, there didn't seem to be any problems. All the lights worked, there were no holes in it and there was a lack of strange smells.

"Well, what do we think, guys?" Stephen asked.

"It's damp, cluttered, dark and run down." Neil began. "But it is cheap."

"Very cheap." Rose offered.

"The neighbours are nice too." He added, indicating out a window. Behind the factory was an overgrown vacant lot, home to a few piles of miscellaneous rusting machinery and a whole lot of weeds. "Not that noisy."

"And we're unlikely to get anything better this close to the start of the season." Stephen shrugged. "I suspect that there's probably three or four other teams after this place too."

"Well I like it." Tasch offered.

"Geez." Rose muttered as she rolled her eyes. "From the way you carry on, anyone would think that the Dark Continent was one big, bleak, post-apocalyptic wasteland." She turned back to face her, just as Tasch was about to say something. "Oh wait, never mind."

"So I guess we're sold then." Stephen finished. "Right, lets get this over with. The sooner I can get out of that youth hostel, the better."

A few minutes later they found Betty outside the factory, smoking. There were several more cigarettes stubbed out on the ground around her. Given that she'd only been out there ten minutes at the most, it was quite an achievement. "Well?" She began.

"We like the place." Rose replied. "We'll take it."

"Lady, you have just made my day." She replied as she pulled out a mobile phone. "I hate this time of year."

**oOoOo**

Things had gone smoothly after that. They'd made the deal and forked over the first of many, many payments on the base. Despite a lot of grumbling, everyone knew that it was a surprisingly cheap base and a good deal at this time of year. Neil had noted the speed at which the agent had processed it all, and guessed that it was probably just Betty wanting to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

Despite the agent's claims, fully furnished had proven to be anything but. In order to get it liveable, they'd spent the next two days shopping for furniture. Due to a dearth of funds (most of them had cash set aside for food and Zoid repairs, and very little for base-furnishing funds) they'd wound up searching charity stores, thrift shops and factory outlets.

In the end, they'd managed to get the base furnished to a reasonable degree. They each had their own room with a bed (never mind that all of said beds squeaked, shifted or had other less then pleasing qualities) and enough left over to partially cover the kitchen and a single room set aside for recreation, eating, planning or anything lese they needed it for.

They'd informed the ZBC of their new base and given them all the relevant contact information so they could receive data on battles or other important events. Since they all were registered with the commission, they had received an e-mail address that the commission would use for such things; but the team was also given one for team matters.

"Well…" Stephen began as he flopped down onto the battered couch in the rec room. "We've got a base, we're registered, we're moved in and everything's working." He sighed. "So that seems to be everything under control."

"Yeah." Neil commented as he dropped down next to him. "I'd open up a tinnie and watch some TV now… except that we don't have a TV and can't afford beer."

"There will be plenty of time for that later." Rose commented as she walked in. "Once we start winning some matches we'll be able to upgrade a bit, flash this place out. Things will be cool."

"Yeah, but first we've got to win a match." Neil added.

"Oh, like the one we've got tomorrow." Tasch spoke up, looking up from her computer. She'd bought her own laptop with her, which was now the team's only computer facilities outside of their Zoids. This meant that she was also their main route for communications to and from the commission.

"Like the one we've got… what?" Stephen looked up at her.

"When did we get a battle?" Neil asked.

"Um, well, tomorrow." Tasch explained.

"What he means is…" Rose began. "Why are we in one already?"

"Its for the tryouts." Tasch continued. 'We've got a tryout battle tomorrow to determine initial rankings and stuff."

"Didn't we already do that?" Rose asked. "I seem to recall we've already been through that whole tryout thing. It was where we all met."

"No, it's the team tryouts." Tasch explained. "We've got to do another tryout thing as a team."

"Of course." Stephen said as he got up. "They need to determine initial rankings for the Team competition as well, just like the individual tryouts."

"But we've all got points already." Neil replied. "What, do we need more of them or something?"

"It's the difference between individual and team rankings." Rose explained. "We have an overall team ranking, and we have our individual rankings. We get team points if the team wins a battle, and individual points for what we take down during the battle. Just because we're all starting with individual points doesn't make any difference to our team's ranking."

"So… we could be a bottom ranked team, but still have a lot of individual points." Neil summarised. "Well that makes perfect sense to me."

Stephen walked over to Tasch's computer. "So what do they say about it? Any details?"

"Lesse…" She bought up the message. "Its takin' place at the main arena at three PM, so we have to have reported in with our Zoids by midday." She started.

"And our opponents?" Rose asked, hopefully.

"They don't say nothing about them." Tasch replied. "So I guess it's like the individual tryouts. We didn't know anything about our individual opponents either. Well, except that they could have been each other."

"I doubt that's going to happen this time, though." Neil commented.

"Yeah. They're not going to get us to fight each other as a team. That'd be silly." Tasch explained.

"Well, I'm sure that whatever we're up against can't be too hard." Rose continued, a confident note in her voice. "We all managed to beat our opponents in the individual tryouts, and I suspect that we'll be up against foes of a similar rank and calibre this time." She shrugged. "I'm not that bothered by it."

"Not bothered by overconfidence, are you?" Neil asked.

"Trust me." She replied. "If they're anything like what we faced in the first round of trials, we're in easily."

"You didn't fight that Genosaur." Stephen dryly noted. "Trust me, that pilot knew what she was doing."

"And the others we faced didn't." She answered dismissively. "We'll be fine."

"But wait." Tasch suddenly spoke up. "There's one thing we haven't thought of. And it's a very, very important thing at that. Probably the single most important thing we need to do."

All eyes in the room turned to face her. "What is it?" Neil asked.

"We need to think of a team name." She stated with a gravity that suggested that it was the most important thing in the world.

There was a stunned silence for a moment.

"Well, yeah, actually." Neil spoke up. "We were kinda too busy with getting a base and stuff that we didn't think about that."

"Come on, it can't be that important, can it?" Stephen asked.

"You kidding?" Rose began. "Team name is everything. It's more then just a label. Its, you know, a statement of who you are and what you're doing. It's the first thing people will think about when they think of us."

"True." Stephen replied. He hadn't thought about it that way, but Rose had a point. "So, how's about we get some dinner and talk about it as we eat."

"Yeah, a little food for thought would help things along." Neil commented. "I mean, how hard can it be?"

**oOoOo**

"Okay, let's try this again." Stephen began as he slumped into the couch. He'd just finished off the last of the beers, and still they hadn't reached a conclusion.

"Don't look at me." Neil shrugged. "I've already given you all my best ideas."

"Right." He dumped the can in a small pile that had accumulated near the couch. "But 'Insert Name Here' is hardly a useful one."

Neil shrugged. "I thought it was good and so did Tasch."

Stephen shook his head. They'd been at this for hours, bouncing names off each other with very little success. The pizzas they'd ordered were long dead, with nothing even left for morning-after snacks, and they'd been through anything they could have drunk long ago. "Its just not going to work."

"Fine then." He said. "You think of a better name."

"I'm trying already."

"Come on you guys." Rose began as she slowly spun around on a squeaky office chair. "This is our name we're talking about here. It can't be that hard to think of something good."

Stephen admitted that he hadn't been focussing on Rose's suggestions as much. He'd been focussing on the way she'd been sitting and the way her pants were sliding down and… damn it. He shook his head. "Well, what do you have to offer?"

"Well…" She began. "That's to say…" She looked at her hand, as if she was expecting it to tell her something. "Okay, I've got a pretty good idea of what not to do." She started.

"Like?"

She shrugged. "Basically anything about blood, night, death, destruction, doom, dragons, demons, black, religious imagery or the like. And red's probably out as well. And anything in Japanese."

"Can I ask why?" Neil began. "I want to know before I run off and join a team called the Bloody Night Killer Evil Devils."

"Because it's been done to death." Rose replied. "Its one of the worst clichés out there. People give their teams supposedly 'kewl' sounding names, but they end up sounding like a bunch of twelve year olds trying to look tough." She offered. "And there are dozens of teams with names like that. You'd be lost in the crowd."

"But I like black." Tasch spoke up. "Its my second favourite colour."

Rose slowly turned to her. "Really? I'd have thought it was your favourite."

"Naw, that's charcoal grey." Tasch replied, waving dismissively.

Rose turned to Neil with a look if 'what the hell?' on her face. He shrugged.

"Well there goes that idea." Stephen began. "I'd pulled up 'Approximate Destruction' from randomly picking words."

"Its nicely vague, but 'destruction' and variations thereof have been done." Rose answered.

"So what do you have?" Neil asked. "You haven't exactly been overflowing with ideas yourself."

"I'm thinking." She snapped.

"Okay, okay…" He grabbed a bowl which had the last few crumbled potato chips in it, and scooped them up. "But none of us are getting any younger here."

"Well…" Tasch began. "How about something that we like? That could work."

"Good thought." Rose began. "So, what's something you like?"

Tasch considered this. "Muffins. I like muffins."

"Sold." Neil spoke up. "We're the muffin me-"

"NO!" Both Rose and Stephen cut him off.

"Awww…" He finished off the chips, and put the bowl down, neatly balancing it on top of a pile of drink cans. "Hey, you know, that guy Stroermer liked muffins too. It said so in a biography of him I read."

"What?" Rose asked.

"Oh yeah. He said that one of the worst things about the Dark Continent was that, at least at the time, there were no good muffins."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Rose asked.

"Just a thought. He likes muffins, Tasch likes muffins. Tasch has the same name and all…"

"I ain't related to him!" She began. "Why do people keep sayin' that?"

"We could try using that, though." Stephen spoke up. "We could have some name that relates back to him, like, uh, the Black Dragons or the like."

"Two problems." Rose replied. "One, that's emphasising a single member of the team, which I think is a bit unfair. Two, both 'black' and 'dragon' are on the 'cheesy' list."

"And besides, Gilvader's a Wyvern, not a dragon." Tasch spoke up. "Redler's a dragon, and so's Gungyarados. And Salamander too, actually."

"Well that doesn't make any sense to me." Neil spoke up. "I mean, Salamander's got two legs, and is a dragon. But Gilvader has four legs and is a Wyvern, but wyverns are supposed to have only two legs."

"Matrix dragon has two legs." Tasch pointed out.

"Yeah, but its also got arms, while Sally doesn't." He replied. "And Chimera Dragon has four legs, even if one pair of them can double as arms."

"What about Dekault Dragon? Stephen asked. "I mean, its got four legs, but it's made up of twp bipedal creatures."

"But the dragon's their native form." Neil replied. "It's based on an ancient core or something."

"True…"

"So why does that make Gilvy a wyvern?" He continued. "I'm beat."

"Maybe its because it don't breathe fire." Tasch offered. "But wait, Redlers don't either, and they're dragons too."

"Hello?" Rose spoke up. "Team name thing here."

"Oh yeah." Tasch began.

"Right." Rose continued, trying to regain control of the situation. "We can't do the Gilvader thing, as, well, there's not much connection. And anything that's Gilvader related would be too cliché."

"Hey, Tasch," Neil began. "Do people on the Dark Continent when they're trying to be kewlzies name things after flowers and happiness and sunshine and bunny rabbits and the like?"

"Uh… I dunno." She replied. "I never thought about it."

"Excuse me. Team names."

"Right." Stephen looked around. "So, um, anything else we like? That 'favourite thing' idea had some merits."

"Right. So, guys, things that we like." Rose spoke up.

"Hmm… hubcaps?" Neil offered.

"What?"

"I like hubcaps." He shrugged.

"Yeah!" Tasch spoke up. "That's a great name!"

"No it's not." Rose objected.

"Well, it'd be different." Neil continued. "And certainly it'd be fun. And besides, how would you feel about being beaten by a bunch of guys called 'I like Hubcaps?'"

"About as good as I'd feel being that bunch of guys." Stephen commented.

"Awww…" Neil sulked. "But it was a good idea, admit it. At this rate, we're going to end up as 'Zoid Team 89' or the like."

"Actually, that's kinda cool." Tasch spoke up.

"…how does your brain work?" Rose asked. "This is getting us nowhere!" She stood up, only to stumble a bit. "Great. I got the cord of my A-Pod caught in this stupid chair." She knelt down to untangle it. "Stupid damn chair."

Stephen craned his neck around to watch her. "What are you gawping at?" Neil asked.

"Umm… just getting ideas, that's all." He offered

"Yeah, but I don't think 'full moon' is a good one." Neil replied smugly.

Rose stood up, messing with her A-Pod. "Damn thing… I swear this cord is going to be the death of me one day."

"Say, what's that you're listening to?" Tasch asked.

"Lesse…" She unclipped it and took a look at the playlist. "World Without Logos. It's from some obscure soundtrack."

"That sounds kinda cool, actually." Neil began.

"You wanna listen?"

"No, I mean the name." He explained. "That could be our team's name."

"World Without Logos?" Rose asked. "It's different."

"At this stage, we might as well be 'Team Without Logos' for how far we've gotten." Stephen commented.

"Or even 'World Without Muffins.'" Stephen finished.

"Hey… what's that 'sposed to mean?" Tasch asked.

"Well, it's a start." Rose said as she began flipping through the playlist. "There could be some ideas here. How does… 'Unusual Allies' sound? I mean, we're form all different backgrounds and we've got different Zoids."

"Allies implies some sort of temporary arrangement." Stephen replied shaking his head. "We're not allies. We're a team."

"By the same stance, we could call ourselves 'Stray Zoids'" Neil spoke up. "We did kinda just all wander into each other."

"Neither of which really works, though." Stephen continued.

"I guess…" Rose flicked the playlist over again. "Little Busters?"

"What?" Stephen asked.

She shrugged. "It's the name of a song."

"Your playlist is weird."

"Oh yeah. You have no idea." She pressed the button a few more times. "'Ride on Shooting Star.' 'A Sincere Heart'. 'Lifeline (Vocal Version Rare!)'. 'Arrival on Junk'. 'She Drives Like Crazy…'" Rose looked up. "That could be your theme, Tasch, what with that crazy hopping Redler of yours."

"Hey… I know exactly what I'm doin'" She replied.

"Well nothing there works." Stephen continued. "Any other ideas?"

"Yeah." Rose flicked it again. "No, I don't think anyone would want to be on a team called 'Zeekdobers ate my Baby.'" She shrugged. "Heck, I don't even know what this track is doing on my pod."

"Well that worked." Neil began.

"Hey, why don't we check the playlist on my computer?" Tasch asked. "I'm sure there's gotta be some ideas in there."

Stephen and Rose looked at each other, then at her. "No!" They both said at once.

"Okay then." She shrugged. "Hey Rose, if you want, we can swap tracks some time."

"Umm… sure." Rose nervously replied, clearly not sure if she wanted to know.

"Right..." Neil continued. "What next?"

"Well, there's this group of back to nature people on the Eastern continent who have their own way of naming their children." Tasch spoke up. "Y'see, the father steps out of their tent and the first thing he sees he names the child after."

Stephen glanced at the others. "Um… and?"

"So we look around for things and we name the team after something we can see." Tasch continued.

"Well, its an idea, its unconventional and its kidna fun." Neil spoke up. "And it's certainly not going to leave us called the 'Black Evil Death Dealers'".

"Fine then." Rose began, and sat down again. The chair suddenly creaked, then keeled over as one of the wheels popped off. Rose leaped off it, landing gracefully on the floor as it tipped over.

"You okay?" Stephen asked.

"Fine." She snapped. "Damn it, what's with this base? Is it stuffed full of broken chairs or what?"

"Broken chairs?" Tasch asked. "Yeah, I can see those."

"Wha?"

"It does have a certain… appeal to it." Neil replied.

"Yeah." Tasch continued. "The broken chairs. "Its so different, so unexpected, so unconventional."

"Nothing about you is conventional." Rose replied.

"Which means that, after a fashion, it's a good team name." Stephen finished.

"It is?" Rose asked.

"Well, you yourself said we should avoid cliché names." He pointed out. "And I think that 'Broken Chairs' is about as unconventional as it gets.

"Well…" Rose began, but she could see Stephen's point. It was unconventional, distinctive and original, all that she'd wanted in a team name. "Yeah, you're right. So we're now the Broken Chairs."

"Cool." Neil finished. "Hey, Tasch, e-mail that off to the commission. They'll need to know for tomorrow."

"Sure thing." She replied, turning back to her computer.

"And now…" Stephen spoke up as he checked his watch. "We need sleep. Lots of it."

**oOoOo**

Unlike the others, Rose had been decidedly less then happy with the results of their little discussion. It wasn't that she didn't like the team's choice of name, it's just that, well, it didn't sound right to her. To her mind, a team name needed to have a certain dynamism. It had to be cool and catchy, but not too cool as to be cheesy.

"Mornin'" Tasch began as she entered the team's kitchen. "Y'all ready for the big day?"

"I'm going out to do battle alongside a bunch of guys who call themselves the 'Broken Chairs.'" She replied. "How do you think I'm feeling?"

"Oh, I know what you mean." Tasch replied.

"You do?" She was surprised at this revelation.

"Oh yeah. It's very excitin'. We're gonna be fighting as a team and all, with a proper team name and everything. I can't wait."

"Oh, forget about it." Rose sighed and went about hunting down something passably edible.

The rest of the morning passed without any real issues. They'd gone over a few ideas for the battle, but nothing too concrete. Since they didn't know what team they'd be up against, they weren't going to commit to a specific battle plan. Instead they discussed manoeuvres and ways to use the strengths of their Zoids together.

A basic plan had emerged of what to do. Tasch would be used to tie up any airbone opponents and try to take them out. In the battle, she wouldn't be limited to only the ground, so it would be a chance to see what she could really do. Rose had idly wondered if what she had done in her first battle was a one-off fluke occurrence, or if she really had planned all that. It'd be interesting to see.

Stephen would be used to take on the enemy's heavy hitters; he'd target their largest Zoid and engage it straight up. It made sense, as his Iron Kong had the firepower and armour to deal with all but the most powerful of opponents. Rose and Neil's task would be to suppress any fast moving opponents and support him, making sure that nobody got around him and tried to take him out from behind.

The plan looked good on paper. Now to see if it could work in practice.

The four of them walked their Zoids to the stadium, Tasch's Redler casually flying along with them in formation. As before, there was a lot of Zoid traffic on the streets today. Observing them, Rose idly wondered if any of the Zoids around her were from the team that they would be facing today. At the same time, she was keeping her eyes open for a blue Koenig Wolf.

She had no idea which team it was that he'd joined. She'd figured that it was likely a more experienced team, given his reputation. At the same time, however, it wasn't unheard of for rookie teams to try and recruit experienced pilots into their teams, just to improve their chances. And having a pilot like Drake would drastically improve any team's chances.

_And that team could have been ours, _she thought. No, that wasn't true. He'd already been recruited when she saw him, so the odds were that he was on whatever team well before she even arrived in the city. So there was no point thinking about it, she reminded herself. All she could do now was try to make the best of a bad situation.

"Wow." Tasch spoke up, throwing her train of thought. "Its just as big when you see it a second time."

Looking up, Rose could see that they were approaching the monolithic Zoids Stadium. While she was usually rather vague, Rose had to concede that Tasch had a point. It was rather impressively large.

Their Zoids were checked in and guided to their designated launch bay by the arena's staff, before being put through their entire pre-battle checklist. All the while, Rose had been watching the area around them, looking out for other teams. She was hoping that she could get a glimpse of whatever team they were going up against.

She would have had to admit that she was a bit nervous, possibly more so then her first battle. In her first battle, it was entirely up to her to win it. In this one, she would have to be depending on the capabilities of the other members of her team; capabilities that she wasn't entirely sure that she trusted yet. _Maybe I'm being overly cautious_, she considered. _But then… we've never worked as a team before, and nobody here has been a member of a team…_

Maybe it was just nerves, she thought. But she also knew she'd feel better with someone more skilled on-side.

"Hey Rose!" Neil called out from across the hanger. She'd been watching some of the battles while trying to figure out what sort of opposition they'd be up against. "They've just beeped us. Its time to go."

"Thanks" She replied as she turned around, walking towards her Liger. _Well, there's no going back now. Let's show the world what we can do._

**oOoOo**

The four Zoids walked into the arena, lined up at one end of it. Looking around, their pilots could see that they were the first out. "Our first team battle." Tasch began.

"Nice day for it too." Neil commented.

"Naw, its too bright out here." She commented. "Can't they turn down the sun a bit?"

He wasn't sure if she was joking or being serious. It was hard to tell. "So, any idea who we're going up against?" He asked, trying not to think too hard about it.

"None at all." Stephen replied. "I'm guessing it'll be another rookie team like us, though."

"I guess we'll know when we meet them." Rose finished. Usually battles like this were arranged in advance, with both teams knowing exactly who they were fighting. That allowed them to plan for the battle and figure out what would and wouldn't work. For the team tryouts, just like the solo ones, the teams wouldn't know who they were up against until the battle was about to begin.

The doors at the other end of the arena opened wit ha trio of forms emerging. The centre of the formation was a massive Mammoth, sporting a pair of supercannons on its back as well as additional armaments on its flanks. On its left was a dull red Sabre Tiger equipped with a hyperbeam cannon, similar to the one used by Stephen's Iron Kong. On the right was a Black Rhimos with a CP-04 mounted in place of its radar mast. A Sinker, a beam gattling mounted under each wing, hovered past them, settling down in front of the formation.

"So this is what we're up against?" The Mammoth's pilot called out. "A buncha amateurs, huh? Hardly seems worth our time." The Zoid trumpeted loudly, then turned to face their team. "We're the Black Warriors. If you know what's good for ya, you'll go down quick."

"The Black Warriors, huh?" Rose began over a comms channel to the other members of the team. "I've heard of them."

"Dangerous?" Neil asked.

"A bit." She replied. "They've got a fair deal of experience."

"So what are they doing here on rookie tryout day?" Neil asked. "Unless this is the Zoid battle version of hazing."

"But could a Mammoth carry a paddle in its trunk?" Tasch asked.

Rose paused before replying. "Thing is, they're also a perpetual looser team. They tend to get knocked out early in the competition every year."

"So there's a good reason why they're here on tryout day, then." Stephen commented.

"Pretty much."

A Battle Commission surveillance drone passed over the two teams, then settled in the centre of the arena, cutting off any reply. "The Broken Chairs versus the Black Warriors." An electronic voice called out. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed." The pilots watched the enemy Zoids in anticipation. "Contestants ready… fight!"

"Okay, here's the plan." Stephen continued. "We stay mobile and close in to avoid getting hit by the Mammoth's big guns. Tasch, take out the Sinker and stop it from getting behind us. Rose, try to get behind the Mammoth. Everyone got that? Good!"

There was a loud retort as the Mammoth's supercannons fired. In response, the four Zoids started running, splitting up as they advanced across the arena. The two supercannon shots went well over their mark, tearing up the arena and kicking up a lot of smoke and dirt, but doing little else.

Tasch's Redler took to the air, taking the lead against the enemy formation, its pilot keeping her eyes out for the enemy Zoid. Rose's Liger Zero headed out in front of the team, heading straight for the enemy, while the Iron Kong and Gunsniper followed behind it.

The Mammoth remained in place, while the other members of its team charged forwards to meet the enemy. The Sabre Tiger and Sinker flanked the Black Rhimos, the latter hovering just above the ground rather then going to full flight. Seeing a chance, Stephen opened fire on the enemy formation, the two long range tactical missiles launching from the Zoid's back, heading towards the enemy formation.

"Redjack, Paula, Hopper!" The Mammoth's pilot called out. "Scatter, now!" The Sabre Tiger suddenly swerved to one side, peeling away from the formation. On the other side, the Sinker did the same, climbing as it went. The Black Rhimos, instead, charged straight forwards. "Hopper you moron!" The Mammoth pilot called out. "Look out!"

The two tactical missiles flew straight over the Black Rhimos, not even coming close to hitting it. "What's wrong, Boss?" He called back. "There's nothing to worry- AH!"

Rose's Liger Zero leaped down on the Rhimos, diving through the smoke trials left by the missiles. The Zoid's strike laser claw carved through its hip armour, all but tearing the leg free form the body before the liger leaped away. The Rhimos stumbled, skidding forwards before collapsing on its side.

Before anyone could say anything, the two tactical missiles struck home. The Mammoth was staggered under the impact of the hits, stumbling backwards. The Zoid bbattered byut still fully functional, but managed to keep its feet.

"One down!" Stephen called out. "Keep going, guys!"

**oOoOo**

Tasch's Redler reached the peak of its climb just above the centre of the arena, then dived dramatically, heading straight for the Sinker. She squeezed the trigger, opening fire with the two beam cannons mounted on the flexible boosters. One of the shots hit the Zoid, clipping its body. The Sinker wavered in flight, its wing momentarily scraping along the ground before its pilot pulled back on the stick, climbing upwards.

"Not bad for an amateur." Its female pilot began. "Now its time for you to taste a little pain." Despite its smaller size, the Sinker was carrying a lot more firepower then the Redler, especially with the two gattlings. The Zoid climbed towards her, opening fire with the twin cannons, filling the air around the Redler with shots.

Tasch twisted the Zoid's foot pedals and yanked the control stick hard to the left. Abruptly, the two flexible boosters veered to one side, suddenly shifting the Redler out of the line of fire. Before the Sinker's pilot could react, she opened fire with the two beam cannons again. The shots dug into the Sinker's body, carving armour off its frame.

The enemy pilot broke off, looping around and then diving back to the arena floor. Tasch dived after it, firing her beam cannons. The other pilot was proving to have some degree of skill, managing to evade most of her shots. The Sinker dropped down to ground level and sped along with Tasch on its tail, then suddenly sharply turned to one side.

Tasch saw why as the red Sabre Tiger loomed up in front of her. She abruptly changed course, the Redler leaping over the enemy Zoid. As it came down on the enemy Zoid's far side, She swung the controls around again. The Redler spun around, its tail blade whipping out and cutting into the Sabre Tiger's flank.

Before she could do anything else, the Sinker came back, firing its beam gattlings. The Redler literally leaped away, turning a short hop into a flight. "Hey…" She began. Y'know, she's tricky." Down here, the Sinker could retain its full speed and agility while hovering, while the Redler would either have to run or take to the air.

The Zoid leaped away from the Sabre Tiger, heading straight for the Sinker, opening fire as it went. The shots came closer this time, one of them punching through the Sinker's armour and going through to its innards. Black smoke billowed out form the smaller Zoid as it peeled away, trying to avoid her shots.

Twisting the controls again, Tasch slewed the Redler around in mid-flight. The Zoid turned as it went, keeping its nose pointed at the Sinker. Tasch kept her finger on the trigger, spraying shots at the Sinker's tail. The Zoid bucked under the impact of the shots, then crashed down to the arena floor for a moment, skidding along on its belly before coming to a halt. The Redler landed behind it, its claws skidding along the arena floor.

"Did I get him?" She asked.

"Uh… Tasch?" Rose asked. "What the hell was that?"

"Was what?"

"What you just did."

"Well…" She began. "Well, I just tuned the boosters and opened fire. An' I kept hopping to avoid the Sinker's fire."

"Oookay then." Rose replied, clearly not sure what to make of it.

**oOoOo**

Neil served the Gunsniper, narrowly avoiding a hit form the Sabre Tiger's beam cannon. He knew a single hit form that thing could take him down, so his best policy was to avoid that hit. The Sabre Tiger leaped away from the Gunsniper, ignoring it and heading for the Iron Kong.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Neil called out as his Zoid turned, heading after it. "Why does everyone always do that?" He opened fire with the Gunsniper's wrist-mounted cannons, spraying shots at the enemy Zoid's flanks. The Sabre Tiger took several hits before replying with its own tail-mounted guns.

The Gunsniper took a grazing hit to one side before leaping out of the way, continuing to spray shots at the enemy Zoid. Realising the sudden threat of this smaller Zoid, the Sabre Tiger turned to face it, snarling. The Zoid opened fire with its beam cannon again, the shot only narrowly missing the Gunsniper.

"Uh, never mind." Neil replied. "I liked the anonymity." He ran past the enemy Zoid, firing one of the wrist cannons at it along with the chest-mounted beam cannons. By his figuring, the Sabre Tiger wouldn't be able to turn the beam cannon fast enough to track him. Well, at least he hoped that was the case. He quietly wished he had one of those Wild Weasel pods. The added firepower could be really useful right now.

_When I'm rich and famous, maybe… _he began as he sprinted away form the Sabre Tiger. The enemy Zoid turned to face him, then broke into a run, heading after him.

"Hey! You don't wanna eat me!" He called out. "I'm all skin and bones. Really. No meat on the frame at all!" Glancing ahead, he could see that he was heading towards the Mammoth. "That's not much of an improvement either, really…"

The mammoth opened fire with its side-mounted quad impact cannon, the shots rippling off a series of blasts just to one side of his Zoid. _That was close_, Neil thought. _Okay, it was a bit too close for me. _Glancing around, he could see that the Sabre Tiger was still after him. _Well, now what, wise-arse?_

A pair of shots hit the Sabre Tiger on the side. Glancing around, he could see Rose's Liger Zero charging at it, rippling off shots from the impact cannon. Angered at this new arrival, the Sabre Tiger turned to face it, ignoring Neil for the moment. The Tiger opened fire with its beam cannon, Rose narrowly avoiding the shot.

Seeing his chance, Neil ducked away form the Mammoth and headed after the Tiger. Its pilot was now too focused on Rose to notice him.; she was busy ducking, dodging and weaving, and generally making it hard for him to get a good shot off at her. _He relies too much on that thing… _Neil noted. The pilot wanted to get a one-hit kill, and wasn't thinking hard enough about his options.

A beep on his radar caught his attention. "Great, now wha… hey!" The Gunsniper leaped out of the way as the Sinker barrelled past him, then suddenly broke to one side. "Watch where you're going!" He called out, then was cut off as Tasch's Redler passed straight over him. The Redler swooped down on the Sinker, then leaped over the Tiger at the last possible moment. Neil had no idea what was going on.

Abruptly, the Sabre Tiger stumbled as if its legs had been knocked out from under it. As the pilot struggled to get to his feet, Neil saw an opportunity. He charged towards the Tiger, opening fire with both back-mounted rocket pods. The missiles slammed into the Tiger's side, literally blowing it over. The Tiger bounced, then rolled onto its side, ripping the cannon free form its body.

"Ooh. Ouchies." Neil began. He cautiously checked the tiger for any sign of movement. Nope… nothing. Which meant that he'd knocked it out of action.

"Hey!" Rose called out over their communicator. "You stole my kill!"

The Gunsniper turned to face her Liger Zero. "Well, I figured that you already had one so it'd be okay. What's one little Sabre Tiger between friends?" He could swear the Zoid was glaring at him.

**oOoOo**

Stephen watched as the other members of the team engaged the enemy Zoids. So far, everything seemed to be going well. Each of them seemed to know what they were doing, and were handing the other Zoids fine.

_My turn now. _The Iron Kong knuckled its way across the arena, thunderous footfalls marking its passage. Ahead of him was the Mammoth, which was steadfastly holding its ground. He knew why; it was an older model Zoid, not very fast or agile. It couldn't hope to keep up with the other Zoids on its team, or any of the ones it was facing, so its pilot was choosing to stand his ground and concentrate on what it was best at: Long range, heavy fire.

There was a thunderous roar as the supercannons fired again. Stephen fired the boosters, twisting the footpedals hard to the left. The Iron Kong suddenly leaped and veered off to one side as the shots headed for where he had been just seconds ago. A tremendous explosion tore apart the arena floor, but achieved little more then shaking him up.

_Nice try, buddy. _He began. The Iron Kong landed form its leap, then charged forwards again. Lining up the enemy Zoid in his sights, Stephen opened fire with the hyperbeam cannon. The shot tore through the Mammoth's back, ripping apart the armour near the base of the Supercannons. _Damn, just a little higher…_

He seemed to have gotten the pilot's attention, however. The Zoid turned to face him, then opened fire with one of the missile pods on its legs. Firing the thrusters again, Stephen tried to turn away from them. Several of the missiles turned to follow him, closing in on the Zoid. Thumbing the trigger, he opened fire with several of the missiles from the Kong's own shoulder launcher. The two flights of missiles flew straight at each other, detonating each other in a spectacular cloud of smoke and flame.

Putting the Kong into another run, he headed straight for the enemy Zoid. The Mammoth, unable to keep up, turned its trunk mounted weapon to face him and opened fire. Stephen knew he didn't eve have to worry about it; the shots bounced off the Iron Kong's armour with no effect.

_Nice try. That's why they invented supercannons, buddy. _The Mammoth's pilot, realising what he was up against, turned to face him, and decided to charge straight at him instead. The Ipact Cannon tripled off shots, slamming into the Iron Kong's chest.

Stephen was rocked around in the pilots seat as the Zoid took the hits. Checking the damage displays, he could see that the Zoid's chest amour was damaged but it wasn't too severe. The Mammoth's twin beam tusks, however, could pose more of a problem. _Don't feel like getting near those._

The Kong fired its boosters again, leaping past the charging Zoid. As he flew past it, he twisted the controls around, keeping the Zoid pointed at the enemy. Stephen opened fire with the wrist cannon and the Hyperbeam Cannon, shots tearing into the Mammoth's side before it landed, skidding across the arena floor.

He turned to look at the Mammoth as it stood there for a second. Then, suddenly, something inside it cocked off. A cloud of black smoke billowed out form its side as its legs shifted, then drooped. The Zoid wavered, then slowly collapsed on its right side.

He allowed himself a moment's breather before looking around. He could see the Rhimos, still lying where Rose had felled it. Likewise, the Sabre Tiger was visible, lying on one side with its legs in the air. He couldn't see the sinker, but figured that it was also out of action. At the same time, he could see that the rest of his team were still standing.

A monitor drone flew over the field, surveying both teams. "The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause. "The winner is the Broken Chairs!"

"Huh." Stephen looked around. They'd done it. They'd fought together as a team, and won. Nobody had been knocked out of action, and they'd beaten a far more experienced team. "Not bad for a bunch of amateurs," he said to himself.

**oOoOo**

Ariel Mychelle had been watching their battle from a monitor just outside her team's hanger. She'd been ready for the battle long ago, well before the rest of the team. Figuring that they would be ready before the battle, she was willing to wait. Of average height, Ariel had a figure that had been described as 'stunning.' She had long platinum blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She was dressed in a form-fitting, silver and grey jumpsuit that featured diamond cut-outs across her chest and abdomen, showing off her not inconsiderable cleavage and pierced navel.

"What a bunch of amateurs." She commented as she watched the team in action. She saw nothing that, to her eyes, was even remotely impressive about them. The Liger Zero and Redler's pilots showed some talent, but nothing that, to her mind, she couldn't have easily done in their places.

And then there was the Iron Kong. She wasn't sure, but she believed that it was the same one that had beaten her last week at the tryouts. It was the same colour and had the same weapons configuration, and the pilot moved in the same way.

_How could I have been beaten by that fool? _She thought to herself. It was bad enough to have been beaten by an amateur like him… but to loose to a wretched Iron Kong? That was unforgivable. She hoped that she would meet him in battle again. He wouldn't be able to get so lucky a second time.

"Ariel Mychelle. Fancy seeing you here." A voice came from behind her. Turning around, she could see a man leaning against a doorway. He was tall, with rather bland and nondescript features. His hair was short and neatly trimmed, and he sported a small goatee beard.

"What do you want, Lance?" She snarled.

"I had heard that you had rejoined the ZBC." He continued. "But I wanted to see if it was true."

"I'm no longer with your people." She snapped. "I'm going to do things my way from now on."

"If I recall, that was why you left the ZBC in the first place." He replied.

"I'm on a team now. One that's better then any of those weaklings you tried to set me up with." She continued, glaring at him.

"I'll have to believe you then." Lance casually replied.

"I'm not coming back."

"Fine." He shrugged. "The offer's still there if you want it. Call me if you reconsider…" He turned and walked off.

She glared at him as he left. _I'm through with you and your kind. _She thought to herself. _I can do this on my own, without your so-called help. _She turned back to the screen, where the Iron Kong was standing over the downed Mammoth. _And I won't let you or anyone else stop me._

**oOoOo**

"So lets hear it for the Broken Chairs!" Neil called out as he raised his glass, then took a massive swig of beer.

"Hear, hear!" Stephen called back, before taking a drink of his own. The four of them had gone out for a little celebratory drink after their battle. They had a good reason to be cheerful. Today's results had been somewhat surprising to the whole team. While nobody had expected them to loose the battle, the fact that thy won it without a single one of their Zoids being knocked out of action was something of a surprise.

It was more so once they examined the results of the day's battle. Not a single other team had gotten away with a flawless victory like they had. Every other team had at least one Zoid knocked out during their battle, and at least one team had only won with a single Zoid remaining. Not only had they won their battle, but they'd had the best overall performance for the day.

"Through the trials without a single loss." Rose commented. "I must admit, I am rather impressed. I hadn't quite expected that."

"Yeah. And we didn't need to fight each other or anyone else we knew. That's nice." Tasch added. Stephen had noticed that she wasn't drinking anything alcoholic. He also figured that this was probably a good thing. The thought of Tasch drunk and more incoherent then usual was moderately terrifying.

"Well…. Yeah, that too." Rose replied.

"Ah, come on." Neil began. "Admit it. The team name is cool."

"Well…" She admitted. Okay, so it wasn't quite what she'd wanted from a team name. And these people hadn't exactly been what she'd expected when she joined the competition and went out looking for a team. Certainly a team of rookies who seemed to have luck and skill in equal portions wasn't what she'd expected.

On the other hand, she had to admit that they did have their good points. Stephen seemed to be a surprisingly good planner and organiser. He seemed to have taken over the running of the team by default, and not just because he had the biggest Zoid. He seemed to know what he was doing, and his planning seemed to have served them well both in getting the team organised and winning the battle. And he wasn't bad looking either.

Neil was different, she thought. He was a nice guy, actually. Even though he was a bit of a smart-arse, every thing he said or did seemed to be in good humour. He'd done well enough in the battle, which had been her biggest worry about him. Furthermore, he seemed to be very good at working with others and supporting them.

And then there was Tasch. She was… unusual, to say the least. Everything about her was weird; her mannerisms, the strange things she said, the way she seemed to gawp at everything around her... and then there was the way she piloted her Zoid. She'd never expected anyone to try stuff like that in a Redler. But she was also very polite and a nice person to be around, if a little strange.

"Yeah, its cool." She admitted. "Very different, kinda, post-modern, almost surrealist, if you know what I mean."

"Wouldn't that be a melted clock instead of a broken chair then?" Tasch asked.

Rose's brain almost seized up at that one. "Yeah, sorta like that." She replied. It was the only thing she could think to say.

"Admit it." Neil continued as he stole the last of the chips. "You just like the idea of being a Broken Chair." He ate the last few chips, then smiled like an idiot.

"Yeah, well…" She couldn't help but laugh. "It's better then being a black-obsessed madman, isn't it?"

"See?" Neil replied. "It isn't so bad after all."

"But what's wrong with the colour black?" Tasch asked.

The pair of them glanced at her; she was in a black shirt and charcoal slacks. "Never mind." Rose replied.

"So guys." Stephen spoke up. "We've done well so far. We've all got through our trials, and we're now a fully-fledged team. We've got the whole season ahead of us still, but I think we're off to a great start." He raised his glass. "To the Broken Chairs."

"The Broken chairs." The others replied, then drank.

_Yeah… _Rose thought to herself. _This isn't so bad after all. _She smiled as she finished off her beer. _Now let's see what the future holds._

**oOoOo**

A lone figure sat in a corner of the bar, watching its occupants. In particular, she was keeping her eyes on one group of revellers who were celebrating their victory.

Looking around, they noticed a man talking to a woman. She was blonde and generously portioned, and rather eye-catchingly attractive. He was tall and nondescript, with short brown hair. The two exchanged a few words, before the blonde stormed out, leaving him behind.

_Oh yes, _they thought as they glanced back to the four revellers. _This could be a very interesting season indeed._

**oOoOo**

Author's notes:

All the team names suggested were ones bounced around by myself, Zogster, Tilly and Steve. Yes, all of them.

An A-Pod is an 'in world' equivalent to an iPod, and just as disgustingly trendy.

The Mammoth's pilot's name is Hendrick. This fact is largely irrelevant, but since I wrote it down and never used it in the story, I thought you'd like to know.


	3. The Hands of Fate

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Three – The Hands of Fate

By Rick R.

**oOoOo**

With the excitement of the initial team battle over, the members of the Broken Chairs had settled into a more or less normal, day-to-day existence. They'd spent most of the meagre prize money they'd gotten from the battle (and after repairs, maintenance, repayments and so on) on further furnishing their base.

It was a shallow decision, but a TV had been one of the first things they'd bought. Rose had suggested it when she pointed out that the only other option was watching downloaded films on Tasch's laptop, with the four of them all squeezed up so they could all see the picture on the tiny little screen. Nobody had argued the point, not even Tasch. (Even though Neil had pointed out that it was probably just because it meant that she could hog the computer)

Most of the next few days after that had been spent organising things in the base and doing mundane things like dividing chores, rostering who did what on which day, sorting out what needed to be done and when and so on. The four team members had been surprisingly willing, with no arguments over people saying what they did and didn't want to do.

Tasch had taken that as being a good sign that they were all going to get along fine, and not end up killing each other over some minor quibble. Nobody could tell if she was joking or not.

The rest of the week had been surprisingly relaxed, with the members of the team not really having much to do. They'd spent most of their time getting to know each other a bit better while, at the same time, trying to figure out how the four of them could best work together in a battle. The biggest problem they had found mirrored one of their biggest strengths. While their Zoids had a diverse range of abilities, they had very little common ground.

They'd been discussing various aspects of their various Zoids and comparing abilities. "So, in other words, we've got a lot we can cover, but nothing muich that we do as a team very well." Stephen considered.

"So… we're different." Neil quipped. "Special even."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Rose commented. After her being rather snappy at the other members of the team before the tryouts, she seemed to be a lot more relaxed. The truth was that she was a lot happier with the team; they had performed far better then she had expected. "I'm sure we'll figure out something before our next battle."

"Well, we've got the trials in two days." Tasch offered. "We can see how we do there."

"The what?" Stephen asked.

"You know, the Zoid trials."

"What do you mean we need to do more trials?" Stephen all but shouted out. "Why do we need any more? I thought we already passed them!"

"Well that's what it says here in the e-mail." Tasch replied, looking up from her computer, and indicating to the screen. "We gotta go to Zoid trials."

"Aw come on…" Stephen began. "We already beat that one team. What else do we need to do?"

"That was a tryout." Rose explained as she looked over the information in the message. "Now they've got the actual trials. It's not another fight as such."

"Then what is it?" Stephen asked, sceptically.

"Basically they get us to run through courses, shoot targets, coordinate our actions and work together." Neil explained as he walked over to him. "That sort of thing. They want to see how we can perform as a team so they can figure out the brackets for the competition or something to that effect. He grabbed a chip from the bag she had left on the counter. "These are good."

"So, its like Sheepdog Trials." Tasch spoke up, cutting Stephen off before he could say anything else, or snap at Neil about the chips. "Only we're running around in Zoids, and not herding sheep."

"Fine." Stephen began. "So we have a battle to determine our rankings, then one to determine our brackets and then…" He shook his head. "How many hoops do we have to jump through in order to become a full-fledged team anyway?"

"Probably not too many more." Neil replied. "Unless they need for us to pose for photos wearing llama costumes or something equally as silly."

"Naw, that's it." Rose explained. "Once we're in, we're in. And the season starts in a few days anyway, so they've just gotta sort everything out." She sat down in one of the battered lounge chairs that constituted the furniture in the rec room. "And besides, it's a chance to get out and have a good run with the Zoids and make ourselves look good to our adoring public."

"They barely know who we are." Neil commented, then took another chip. "So how can they be adoring?"

"Aw come on." She smiled. "Two hunky guys, two cute girls, cool shiny Zoids… they'll love us."

"But wait a sec…" Tasch spoke up. "If there was a team in Houndsoldiers, then that would be like sheepdog trials. 'cause Houndsoldier is a Shepard dog and all."

That induced another long pause from everyone in the room.

"…how does your brain work?" Rose finally asked.

"Well, nobody really knows." Tasch began. "The human minds is an amazing thing. Scientists have been tryin' to figure it out for centuries with very little luck."

Neil sniggered, then burst out laughing. "Now that…" He began. "That was a good one. You've got to admit it, Rose."

"Well…" She began, then laughed, "I guess it was. You got me good there, Tasch."

"I did?" Tasch asked. "How?"

"You… uh…" Rose began. "Uh, never mind."

**oOoOo**

The day of the trials arrived surprisingly quickly. While it was still early, the day itself looked good, being another pleasant, calm and sunny day, which everyone except Tasch took as a good sign.

"I don't get it." She began as she finished the final checks to her Redler. "I don't see what's so good abut it being all bright and sunny. I can't see proper and all."

"What, would you prefer our big day to be all gloomy and overcast?" Rose asked as she powered up the Liger.

"Well, yeah." Tasch replied. "I could see better then. And 'sides, its nice when its all dull and grey and stuff."

"She got you there." Neil added over the comms channel as his Gunsniper left their hanger.

"Is everyone form the Dark Continent like this?" Rose asked.

"I dunno." He replied, the Gunsniper shrugging to emphasise the point. "Tell me if you ever meet another one."

"…well at least we know that our comms channels are working." Stephen spoke up. "Okay guys. Let's get going." The massive Iron Kong knuckled its way out of the hanger, following after the Gunsniper. Rose's Liger followed it, with Tasch's Redler behind them, walking along in its strange hop-skipping style before taking to the air. The three Zoids walked towards the site for the trials, the Redler idly flying above them at only a tiny fraction of its top speed.

The Trials were taking place at a different arena to the one that has hosted their previous battles. Unlike the normal Zoid arena, this one was laid out more like a traditional stadium, complete with seating. Since the trials didn't actually involve direct combat, and since all weapons fire was carefully controlled, it was an opportunity for the people to see the Zoids live and in person.

Today the crowd was packed out, as they usually were for the trials. Beside the opportunity to see "live" Zoids, the trials often served as a measure for what teams to watch during the actual season.

After checking in, the Broken Chairs were directed to a hanger, one of a large complex in the centre of the field. The Zoid hangers were very visible to the crowd, so they could see what was going on and try to identify teams by what Zoids were present. It also meant that the teams could check out each other and see what they were going up against.

Once their Zoids were parked, the team checked over the day's running order. Each team would be sent out individually to do their run, with the order seemingly randomly chosen. From examining the list, the Broken Chairs were more then half way in through the day. Nobody seemed to mind, it gave them time to relax and go over what they needed to do.

The trial "run" consisted of a course that ran around the length of the arena in a circuit. The Zoids had to basically cover the course in as quick a time as possible, negotiating obstacles while, at key points, shooting targets. Points were scored for time, accuracy, manoeuvring, avoiding obstacles and other circumstances. The scoring system took into account the presence of different types of Zoids and weighted things dependent on the individual; a Gordos was going to have a far lower weighting on how much time it took then a Lighting Saix.

The course's designers had even taken flying Zoids into account. If a flying Zoid was present, a hologramatic field would be "erected" in the air above the real course. This would allow the flying Zoid pilot to complete the course and run obstacles without the far higher risk of a collision. While they could pass through the obstacles, points would be deducted if they did such.

And, of course, the key was to do it as a team. They would all run together and were expected to support each other, each one helping out the others to complete the course. The idea was to see how they did as a team, not just as individuals.

"Okay, guys." Stephen began. He'd gathered everyone around a small camp table he'd set up in front of the hangars. "Here's the deal. I think I have an idea of how we can get through the course."

"Oh?" Neil asked. "You got insider info?"

"Not quite." He replied. "But Rose and I have been talking with people who have done the course in past, and we're getting a better idea of what to expect."

He laid out a crude map of the course on the table. "The obstacle run is the easiest part of it for us to get points on. All four of us seem to be pretty good at piloting out Zoids, and we lal have reasonably agile ride, so we should be able to easily evade most of what they put in our way. That much is easy."

He indicated to several parts of the map. "There's several ranged where we will have to shoot at targets. At the same time, there's going to be simulated guns shooting back at us. They score us both on how much we hit and also how may times we get hit back."

"My idea is that I go first." Rose began. "My Zero's the fastest and most agile Zoid on the team, which means that I've got a fair chance of evading any shots coming at me. My plan is to go first and use myself as a distraction while you guys shoot out the targets. Besides, a Kong and a Gunsniper would be better for that."

"Tasch will have a special job. Now we've got a big plus by our going later in the day." Stephen began. "By the time we're ready, the arena will have seen a lot of action. So there's going to be a fair deal of splatter from the paint guns all over it already. So Tasch, if you see any bright splashes on the walls or floor of the track, let us know."

"Right." She replied. "Do I look for any colour in particular? Like should I let you know if its blue or pink or what?"

"…I think just any old colour will be fine." Stephen finished. "Just so long as it looks out of the ordinary."

"So-" Neil began, but was cut of by the sound of a Raynos flying past, heading over the course. The Zoid weaved in and out of several semi-transparent blocks that were hovering over the track, a lance-equipped Hammerhead close behind it. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, what's my job?"

"Hang close to me." Stephen replied. "Your task is to go for small, out of the way and difficult to hit targets on the course. You've got the advantage of having a small and nimble Zoid, which should let you get better shots at the elusive targets then me."

"I can live with that." Neil casually replied. "Besides, its what I'm best at on the battlefield."

"So that's the plan, guys." Rose finished. "Everyone cool with it?"

"Works for me." Neil asked.

"Sure…" Tasch began. "But I got one other question."

"Oh?" Stephen asked. "What's that?"

"Do we want to do better or worse then that team there?"

Stephen turned around to see a group of Zoids passing by their hanger. A Darkhorn and a Dibison lead the team, followed by an Elephander and a bright Iron Kong PK. "Umm…" he began. "I guess it al depends on how they do, really." He was trying to sound clam, but could realise why Tasch was asking. Facing them did not look like a fun prospect.

"Right. Any other questions?" Rose added, cutting off any smart replies.

"Yeah." Neil offered. "When do we get lunch?"

**oOoOo**

The hours up until the team's run had been relatively clam, with the four of them going their Zoids to make sure that each and every littler thing was working perfectly. This was a very big day for all of them, and nobody wanted to for anything to go wrong or ruin it.

The four Zoids left the hanger area, heading out to the starting line for the run. The Liger, Iron Kong and Gunsniper lined up at the start line, while Tasch's Redler hovered over them. The four pilots studied the course ahead of them, looking for anything that they could use to their advantage.

"Okay guys." Stephen began. "Just remember the plan, and everything will go well."

"Nothing to worry about." Neil added. "We're only setting up the rest of our matches for the year. And there's just a few zillion people watching from the stands, plus the TV broadcasts."

"You think?" Tasch asked. "Cause some people would find that a kinda nervy situation."

"You're not nervous?" Rose asked.

"Me? I'm fine." She replied. "I'm gonna give it my best, and, well, just see how we do."

A ZBC monitor drone hovered over the start line, a tree of coloured lights suspended below it. "ZBC team trials. Team 47, the Broken Chairs." Its voice called out over their communications systems, as well as broadcasting it across the stadium. "Pilots ready." The red light at the top of the 'tree' flashed on. "Get set." The light switched to amber. "Go!"

As soon as the lights flashed green, the four Zoids were off, sprinting across the start line. On the ground, Rose's liger instantly took the lead, while above it the Redler matched its speed. The Iron Kong and Gunsniper remained level behind her, matching their speeds and keeping in a neat formation.

Rose slewed the liger through the first set of chicanes, effortlessly evading them. Above her, the Redler weaved in and out between several hologramatic blocks that were suspended in mid air, its pilot making the most of her flexible boosters to enhance the Zoid's manoeuvrability, evading the blocks with ease.

"Hey! We got some blue and pink splatter!" Tasch called out as she eyed the course ahead.

"Copy that." Stephen called back. "That means the first target range is ahead."

"I hear ya." Rose began. "Don't worry. I know the plan."

The Liger leaped into the straight stretch, bounding over a pair of pop-up guns that tried in vain to track it. Another one popped out of a wall and opened fire, rose managing to weave the large feline Zoid out of its way. Looking around, she could seem ore appearing. _Well, it's working. They like me now. _"Okay boys, hit it!" She called back.

Behind her, Stephen's Iron Kong opened fire with its massive Hyperbeam cannon, blasting apart a target. Neil's Gunsiper followed suit, opening up with its two wrist Vulcans on another pair. Above them, Tasch's Redler opened fire with its beam cannons, shooting at holographic targets that floated above the course.

Leaping past another gun, Rose lined up a target, bagging it with the Zero's impact cannon before leaping away. Behind her, a pair of paint guns continued trying to track her zoid, spraying shots across the walls behind her. "Nice try," she said, grinning, then sped up the liger, leaping into the next stage of the course, vanishing behind a concrete wall.

"So far so good." Stephen began as the Iron Kong and Gunsniper followed her Zoid up. "Now let's see what the rest of the course has to offer us."

**oOoOo**

"Well, how'd we do?" Stephen asked as he left the Hanger. Neil was already waiting by the hanger, having completed his post-run check quicker. _One of the few pros of small Zoids, _he thought.

"See for yourself." Neil replied, then glanced up at a scoreboard.

Looking up Stephen could see a list of teams on the board. The Broken Chairs were there, he noticed. True, they weren't that high on the list, but they were still there. "I see." They'd actually done pretty well for an amateur team on their first run, about as well as they could have been realistically expected to do.

"Well, we were beaten by the Golden Eagles and the Iron Giants." Rose offered as she stepped out of her Zoid's hanger. "And most of the others that are ahead of us are pros who have done this before."

The board changed again as another team appeared on the board, ahead of them. "Hey look." Tasch added, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere. "Those guys are ahead of us too."

"Team Firestorm, huh?" Rose began. "I haven't heard of 'em. What do you guys think?"

"Well, they could be a team of all Salamanders or Arosaurers or somethin'" Tasch offered.

"…well, yeah." Stephen admitted, not sure of what else he could say to that startling conclusion.

"Or they could be Leoblazes." Neil added. "I mean, there's enough of them around that you could build a whole team of 'em."

"Now that'd be silly." Tasch stated.

…he couldn't argue with that. "Well, we're still ahead of the Renegade Legion." He noted. "And those Black Warrior guys, as well as the Red-And-Whites. So it's not all bad."

"Firestorm, huh?" Rose began. Thinking back to the tryouts, she recalled that both Drake and the woman he'd been talking to had a flame-themed logo on their jackets. _Could that be them? _She wondered. It did make sense…

"You think you're so good, just because you beat a few second rate teams." A voice cut them off.

As one, the team turned to the source of the voice, greeting it with a trio of blank stares (and one more blank stare hidden behind a pair of dark glasses.). Before them was a tall, muscular man. He was taller then Stephen, with his spiked up black hair making him seem more so. More striking was his outfit. It looked ridiculous, being a skin tight blue bodysuit with armoured panels on his chest, lower arms and lower legs, and a matching blue headband. He was openly carrying a sword on his back, something that to Stephen always took to be a sign of insanity. (Openly carrying a gun was another matter. Gun beat sword any day.)

"Who the hell are you?" Stephen asked.

"You should all know me." He began.

"Nope." Tasch offered. "I have no idea."

"You're…" Neil considered. "Fetish suit man?"

"Hey!" Rose began. "You're that piece of crap pilot in the Blade Liger! I beat you so you cried and claimed I cheated, and then the judge fined you." She glanced at the others, then turned back to him. "In fact, it fined you twice."

"It doesn't matter." He said, a confident air in his voice. "You think you're all so good. You think that, just because you beat me the one time-"

"-rather easily at that." Rose added. Tasch and Neil nodded.

"-because the ZBC made an incorrect ruling," He continued as if they hadn't said a thing. "that you are some sort of super pilots." He paused. "Trust me. My new team, the Black Hands… they'll blow you away. We'll sweep you off the board. And when we face each other for the first time…" He leered at Rose. "You'll wish you never crossed paths with Slash."

"…what planet are you from?" Neil asked. "And does everyone there act like this?"

"Laugh all you want." Slash continued. "You won't be laughing when you face me again." He turned and walked off.

"Nice butt." Rose casually added, looking at his form-fitting suit.

"Looks painful." Neil commented. "Like he's giving himself a permanent wedgie. I mean, how does he sit down in that thing?"

"Slowly and carefully?" Tasch asked.

Stephen couldn't decide whether she was being serious or joking. But he found it amusing no less. Looking up, however, he could see another three people waiting at the end of the row of hangers. Presumably, they were the other members of his team.

One of them looked to be not too much more then an over-grown kid, who seemed to be doing his best to look like Slash, he also had spiked-up black hair and a headband. Fortunately, he didn't share Slash's taste in clothing, instead wearing black cargo pants that seemed to have been fashionably torn, and a red t-shirt.

Nest to him was a handsome man in his early 20s, with shot blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a plain white shirt, grey slacks and, oddly enough, a single black glove. The woman next to him caught his eyes, however. She was rather eye-catchingly attractive, with a rather sensuous figure, long platinum blonde hair and blue-green eyes. She was dressed to show it off, wearing a form-fitting black and silver jumpsuit that had cut-outs on the shoulders, chest and abdomen, the last of which showed off her diamond-studded navel ring.

As he sized her up, she turned and glared at him. There was a rather harsh strength in the glare, one that seemed to radiate pure hatred and malice. _Who the hell is she, _he wondered. _And what the hell is her issue?_

"Reckon that's his team?" Tasch asked.

"What, the office boy, the porn star and his mini-me?" Rose replied. "Could well be."

"Why do you think he wears a single glove?" Neil quietly began.

"Probably because that's the hand he likes to whack off with and he likes to keep it in good shape." She offered, then shrugged.

"Well, let's see how they do in the trials." Neil commented. "Maybe they're better then they look."

"Well right now, they look kinda silly." Tasch offered.

"Yeah, well I'm sure that dogrooter there chose 'em for a reason." Rose finished. "And I think it might be a laugh to find out what it is."

"Could the Black Hands please report to the start line for their trial." A voice called out over the PA system. "Repeat, could the Black Hands please report to the start line for their trial."

"That sounds like 'em." Neil offered. "I wanna see what he was going on about. From the sounds of things, you'd think that his team was the greatest thing in the universe."

"Naw, that'd be the Blue Thunder team." Tasch offered.

"The who?"

"Naw, the Who are way down." She replied. "Blue Thunder are top of the scoreboard." She pointed up at it. Sure enough, the top team was called Blue Thunder. And, to no surprise at all, Niel noted that there was indeed a team called simply 'Who.'

_Probably made up of some people that think they're really, really funny_, he thought. _I should check 'em out some time._

"Well, lets see what happens." Stephen began. "Maybe Slash wasn't just blowing his own horn."

"More like playing his own flute." Rose muttered.

They watched as the Black Hands started their run. None of their Zoids were flying types, Stephen noted. So that in theory gave them an advantage against them in a hypothetical battle. On the other hand, it also meant that thy probably would have more overall firepower. Since that guy Slash ad come over and made so much noise, he clearly was itching for a chance to take a shot at the team or, at least, Rose. It'd be interesting to see how things played out.

They waited until after the Black Hands had finished their run, keeping their eyes on the scoreboards throughout. All were curious to see where the Black Hands had come, especially compared to their own performance.

The board adjusted to reflect the new scores. "We stayed where we were." Neil noticed. "That means they scored less then us. Interesting."

"Unless they got a tie with us, and they put us them right underneath us on the list." Tasch offered.

"Nope, that's still the Centurions." Stephen noticed.

"And the Saturday Knights are still below them." Rose added. "And the Black Warriors, the B-Team and the Green Machine."

"So… ummm…" Stephen began. "Where _are _they?"

"There!" Neil pointed out. "One point above the Renegade Legion, right below the Cave Dwellers."

"Wow." Stephen began, sarcasm colouring his voice. "That is impressive."

"I'll say." Tasch replied. "They've only got one point between 'em either way. They managed to fit in so neatly."

_Well, that wasn't what I was going to say, but… _Stephen thought.

"Relax guys." Rose began. "After this, I don't think Mr Slash will be so eager for a fight."

**oOoOo**

The shiny red SUV pulled off the main road, heading up a side road that ventured up the side of a forested hill. After a couple of hundred meters, the forest gave way, revealing a large pair of buildings, situated in the middle of an expertly manicured lawn. The buildings looked to be no more then a few years old, both of them gleaming white and appearing to be impeccably clean.

One of them was a large two-story house with a large upper level porch and wide bay windows dominating its upper floor, and a large garage off to one side. The other was clearly a Zoid hanger, sporting a large access door that looked to be big enough to admit a Gojulas, and a huge glass dome over the top.

The SUV pulled up in front of the front door of the house. Inside it, Slash turned back to look back at his three passengers, a smug grin on his face. "So, guys." He began. "What do you think of your new team base?"

"Wow!" Kuro Onishi began as he all but leaped out of the car, the others following him. "This is awesome! This place looks sooo cool! I can't wait to take a look at it." The shortest and apparently the youngest of the three, he sported black hair spiked up in a style similar to Slash's, complete with headband. He wore a red shirt with a diamond logo on one side, and black cargo pants that he'd bought pre-torn.

"Its okay." Bill Peterson added as he stood next to Kuro. He wasn't towering over him, but he was noticeably taller then the other pilot. "I've seen better bases myself," he continued in a somewhat condescending tone. "But this one is nice, and I suppose it will do." Bill was handsome, with short blond hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and slacks and wore a single glove for reasons that he was yet to explain, but that could have been because nobody had asked.

Ariel Mychelle didn't say anything, merely looking over the base and the surrounds, taking in all around her. _It looks good, certainly. _She thought to herself. _I can't see any flaws with the layout, and the facilities themselves appear to be complete. _Unlike Slash, she'd changed out of her pilot's suit, preferring instead a tight minitop and low-cut pants that showed off her fit, toned body. _So let's see what else he has to offer._

"You think it's good so far?" Slash continued, not paying any attention to Bill's comments. "You should see the insides. If you'll care to grab your stuff and follow me, I'll give you the grand tour." He walked up the path to the front of the house, leaving the others behind him.

Kuro grabbed his pack from the back of the car and enthusiastically followed him up the path, burbling over about how awesome it all looked and how cool it was to be working with a great warrior like Slash.

"Here you go." Bill began, picking Ariel's bag up out of the car. "If you want, I can carry it up to the house for you."

"I don't need your help." Ariel snapped, her green eyes glaring into his. Before he could say anything else, she grabbed the bag and stalked off up the drive. _That fool. What does he think I am, some sort of weak little girl who can't carry do anything for herself? _She hauled the heavy bag up to the house, leaving Bill behind her.

"So, guys." Blade began, smiling. "My fellow Black Hands, soon to be the top-ranking team in the entire ZBC. Welcome to your new home."

He swung open the door just as Bill reached them and stepped aside, letting them all glance into the large room in front of them. "Nice." Kuro began as he took the place in. Real nice."

"So what else does it have?" Bill asked. "It takes a lot to impress me, you know."

"Follow me, men." Slash began. "I'll give you the full tour."

Ariel had to be impressed with the facilities. Slash had managed to acquire a large and luxurious base that had been equipped with everything they could conceivably need. Separate bedrooms and bathrooms, a state of the art kitchen, full laundry, rec room with the latest in home entertainment systems, an indoor pool and even a gymnasium.

The Zoid hanger had proven to be just as impressive. The spacious hanger had room for at least ten Zoids, and was more then they'd ever need. Its repair facilities were top of the line and the supplies wanted for nothing. In addition, it was equipped with a state of the art simulator system that allowed the four team members to practice against both computer opponents and each other.

_Its perfect, _she thought to herself. _This has everything I need. Form here, I can make myself an even better warrior then I am now. And then nobody will be able to stop me._

"So, guys, what do you think?" Slash asked as he leaned back against a railing. He hadn't yet changed out of his pilot suit, she noted. And whereas Kuro and Bill seemed to prefer piloting their Zoids in casuals, she made sure that she knew when and were to wear her pilot gear.

"Oh man, this place is so awesome!" Kuro shouted out. "Man, this is amazing! This is the best place ever!" He turned back to Slash, beaming. "Thank you for this! Its, wow, its an honour to work for you, Mr Slash sir."

"Yeah, its pretty good." Bill spoke up. "Its one of the better bases I've seen. Certainly, its adequate for what we need. I would have preferred something bigger but…" He shrugged. "It is pretty decent."

Ariel glared at him and turned back to Slash. "You have a very impressive base here, Mr Schnauzer." She began.

"Please, call me Slash." He replied.

It was an odd request, but she didn't mind. She could see that he was a fellow warrior, with the same drive and determination as her. To call him by the name he had chosen to demonstrate his prowess would be honouring him. "Very well then." She replied. "This base has all that we will need to achieve victory. I feel that we should begin working to hone our skills immediately, before the first round of the tournament begins."

"Ah, it can wait." Bill replied. "Let's face it, we're pretty good as it is."

"How can you say that?" She asked, her emerald-green eyes narrowing. "We placed near the bottom of the trials. And we only narrowly beat that team in the try-outs."

She could remember that battle well. The Cave Dwellers had proven to be a remarkably resilient and determined team, managing to take out three of the four members of the Black Hands before she had finished them off. But she could still remember that Gorilla Tron, and how it had come distressingly close to getting her, before she had crushed it.

_Just like his Zoid, _she thought. _That damnable machine…_

"It was all a part of my master plan." Slash replied, cutting her off. "I deliberately under-performed in both the tryouts and the trials, deliberately understating my own abilities. This was to allow our team to get into a lower bracket where we will face weaker opponents and score easier victories once our true colours show."

Ariel was struck by this. On one side, she could see the reasoning; weaker opponents would mean more victories, which would mean bigger prizes, which would mean they would do better over all. On the other hand, the warrior within her wanted the challenge of stronger, more powerful opponents. She wanted the glory and the honour that would come from defeating stronger foes, not weaker ones.

"Oh wow!" Kuro began. "That is so brilliant! I mean… your plan is awesome! I wouldn't have thought of that… wow…" He beamed. "You're so awesome, Slash. I hope that I can be as good as out some day."

"Well, that's not easy…" He began.

"No, I know what you mean." Bill cut him off. "I mean, I did exactly the same thing in both the trials and the tryouts." He explained with a bit of an overconfident tone in his voice. "I, uh, figured out exactly what you were doing straight away and decided to go along with it. But I made sure that I was, uh, wasn't being too weak, so we still had a chance." He sidled on over to Ariel. "And fortunately, she was able to finish off the opponents that I had weakened."

"That's all good for now," Slash began. "But Ariel is right. From tomorrow, we'll begin working on our teamwork and our coordination. We may be the best team in the ZBC, but even perfection can be improved upon." He turned around and walked back to the house. "But for now, let's relax and take it easy."

"Yeah!" Kuro added. "Tonight I am gonna party so hard!" He all but bounded off after Slash.

Ariel was aobut to leave, when Bill interrupted her. "I was thinking." He began. "We're probably the two best warriors in the team, me and you. I mean, Slash is good, but he's not up to our standards."

_What's he up to, _she wondered. "Your point being?"

He walked on over next to her. "What I was thinking is that it'd probably be for the best if you and I worked very closely together to improve our performance. I actually think that we could bring out the best in each other… each of us helping the other to reach their peaks, if you follow my drift."

"No, I don't."

"Well, I was thinking that we should have some, uh, private training sessions where we get to know each others styles better and what drives us on. I'd be willing to show you some of my special techniques. I'm sure that you know a few yourself."

She blinked for a moment, trying to get exactly what he said. "I see." She finally spoke. "Well, I'm sure that whatever these techniques are, we'd be better off if the whole team saw them in action. I think you'd be better off demonstrating them to Slash then to me."

She walked off without another word, leaving Bill behind.

**oOoOo**

A fact that was little appreciated amongst fans of Zoid battles was that, behind all the action and excitement of Zoid battles, away from the glitz and glamour of the pilots and the arenas, there was an army of people working to make sure that everything happened. The ZBC had numerous employees who had to do everything from arranging battles to clean up the arenas after them.

Ron McGonnagle was one such employee. He was pretty high up the chain as things went, and was one of the people who were most involved in arranging matches. His task was to pair up teams for the competition by evaluating the relative positions of teams on the ladders, their points tallies and so on. It was a position of quite considerable power within the commission, and also one of considerable prestige.

And for him it wasn't enough.

He was working on the listings for the first rounds of the team battles, giving approvals for the matches generated so far by the commissions computers. Despite the speed of the automated process, in the end, everything came down to a human to make the final decision. So far, he figured, this year's competition didn't look too special. There were only a few competitors so far who had caught his attention.

He was interrupted by one of the three mobile phones he kept in his desk ringing. Judging by the tone, he knew that it was the cheap and nasty pre-paid that he reserved for unofficial ZBC business. He'd had it registered in the office boy's name, just in case. Opening the desk, he picked up the phone and checked the caller ID. _Interesting, and worth answering._ "McGonnagle here."

"This is Slash." Came the answer form the other end. McGonnagle nodded, having already known who it was, but appreciating the conformation. Slash tended to go through a lot of phones anyway. "I need your help."

"Go on." He replied.

"As you know, I've got a team for his year's season, the Black Hands." Ron nodded again, bringing up their info on the screen. Yes, there they were. Barely made it through the tryouts, and an embarrassingly low score on the trials. Sounded just like what he'd expect from the man.

"What about them?" Ron asked.

"Well, I was thinking that a battle between us and a particular other team might be, um, rewarding." Slash continued.

_Right, a bribe for setting up a battle_. Slash had asked for those before. In fact, they were the second most common reason why he called Ron. "That's not going to be easy, Slash. Team battles… well, the team competition is heavily structured. Its not like I can just re-arrange a first round match."

"But I need this." Slash replied. "Um, and I'm sure you'd find it to be very, um, beneficial."

Ron smiled to himself. Slash had the big advantage of being filthy rich. No, not true, he had filthy rich parents who seemed to have given him an open licence to whittle away their fortune. "Well let me see…" He bought up the information on Slash's team, checking over the other warriors. Two of them were completely uninteresting, a rookie and a troublemaker. The third…

_I know some people who would find this quite interesting, _he thought. _I can see the benefits right now. _"So who is it you want to take on?"

"An amateur team, the Broken Chairs."

"Right…" he bought up the info on the other team. Another four rookies with very little to note about them. Well, three of them. He noted the name of one of them, and pulled up some more info. _Very interesting. This gets better and better._

He had been doing little favours for Slash in exchange for kickbacks since the hid first showed up, Arranging the odd match, overturning the odd judges ruling. The guy was an idiot, but he was an idiot with money, which made him Ron's friend. Besides which, the crowd kind of liked him. They came to see him blow his top and make an arse of himself. "Right, you've got your match." He finished as he made a few changes to the line-up of the opening round. "I'll send you the details when the announcements are made for the first round."

"Thanks for that."

"Just don't forget to show your appreciation." Ron finished, then ended the call. Almost as soon as he was done, he dialled another number on the mobile. The call went straight to a message bank, as he had expected. "This is Ron." He began. "There's a first round match I think you might be interested in…"

**oOoOo**

Like everything else in their base, the Black Hands meeting room was equipped with the latest, state of the art equipment. It was farm ore then they'd ever realistically need to run a four-man Zoifd battle team, but Slash liked to have all the gear around to show off. He'd even learned how to use some of it, just so he could demonstrate it and impress his team.

He strode into the room, dressed in his trademark armoured blue skinsuit and stood at the head of the briefing table. The other three members of the team were sitting around one end, leaving the rest of the massive table unoccupied.

"Thank you for coming." He began. "I called you here because I have received the details of our first match for the season."

"Who is it against?" Bill asked.

"I formed this team for a reason." Slash replied, apparently ignoring him. "Out of all the warriors that I could have picked for my team, there was a specific reason why I chose you three. And do you know what that is?"

"Because… we're so awesome?" Kuro asked.

"Because you recognised our potential as warriors, and wanted to bring out the best in us?" Ariel answered, a confident tone in our voice.

"I chose you three because I saw in you a need. A need that needed to be fulfilled." He replied. "Like you three, I was also defeated in the first round of the tournament. Unlike you, I was defeated by an unfair ruling by the judges, but my point stands. I was angered by that defeat, and the circumstances that caused it. I was angered that they allowed a flagrantly rule-breaking pilot to claim the victory, even though she had done nothing to earn it. Just as I imagine that you three were angered by your defeats."

Ariel nodded, and narrowed her eyes. "I was. To have been defeated by such an… amateur."

"That woman who defeated me…" Bill added. "There's no way she should have been allowed to do what she did. They should have disqualified her."

"And that Gunsniper pilot totally cheated." Kuro finished. "He fought, like, so totally unfairly. You know, he didn't even give me a chance to attack him. It's like, so unfair of him."

"Exactly." Slash finished. "That is why I chose you; because you each feel a need for vengeance. It is a need that drives you, that gives you strength and power." Actually, that wasn't entirely true. They were the _only _three warriors that had listened to him after the first round. "And, if we can harness that need for vengeance, it will make us stronger. It will make us unstoppable."

"I understand." Ariel replied. "We must use our anger. We must draw on it to make ourselves better."

"And only then can we erase the mistakes of our past." Slash finished. "We will overcome them and make ourselves stronger. Which is why this first victory will be potentially our most important."

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel at the end of the table. A holographic image of a Zoid appeared, slowly rotating as it floated above the table. "A Liger Zero?" Ariel asked before the image abruptly changed to that of an Iron Kong, wearing a thruster pack and carrying extra weapons. "That's…"

"The same Zoid that defeated you." Slash continued. The image changed to a black and green Redler, carrying a pair of Flexible Boosters on its wings. "And this one should also seem familiar."

"It is." Bill replied.

"By a coincidence, the four warriors who defeated you all in the first round have formed a team." He explained as the image shifted to a Gunsniper. "And, by a far more fortunate coincidence, we have been scheduled to fight them in the first round of the competition."

"You mean… we will battle them?" Bill began.

"That is correct."

"Oh man, that's awesome!" Kuro shouted. "We can totally take them on! And together, we'll totally beat them!"

"Fascinating." Ariel continued. "A chance to cleanse the stain on our honour."

"You see?" Slash explained. "By holding the team back, I gave us the chance to take on and defeat these individuals." _Well, it was as good as an excuse as any._ "And then…" He began. "We will take on these so-called 'broken chairs' and we will be the ones to break them."

**oOoOo**

"Hello sports fans!" The call came out across the massive arena, as well as being relayed live to the live audience in the stands and the viewers at home. "For those of us just joining us, I'm Henry J. Urgleflogger, and with me is former ZBC Champion 'Big Jim' Beef." The first of the two announcers began. Henry was of average height and of a thin build with a pencil moustache and obviously fake hair, decked out in a cheap suit and square glasses.

"And we're back with the opening day first round of the team competition. Already we've had a great match between the Winter Wolves and the Sandstormers, and it looks like we've got more to come." Jim replied. He was a lot larger then his colleague, with a thick, bushy moustache. He was squeezed into a suit that seemed too small for him, and wore a rather incongruous bandanna.

The pair of them were in an announcing booth that directly overlooked the arena, allowing them to watch the action straight from the moment it happened. The booth itself was recessed into the wall and heavily shielded, and was pretty safe from harm.

At the far end of the arena, a pair of hanger doors opened with a quartet of Zoids stepping out, into the arena. "Entering first is the Broken chairs, a new team made up entirely of rookie pilots." Jim began. "Although the four of them have done rather well for themselves so far."

"Yes, Jim, but it remains to be seen how they will fare in actual competition." Henry added. "Still, thy do show a lot of potential from what I've seen."

"First out is Stephen Chesterton, piloting an Iron Kong. There's not much we can say about this young man so far, but he has shown some degree of skill." Jim continued. "And of course, he's gone with a very solid and reliable Zoid, one that has worked very well in past. I fought many an Iron Kong back in my day, and they were never easy opponents."

"And as you can see, that Iron Kong is boasting a considerably enhanced arsenal." Henry added. "Next out, piloting a Liger Zero is newcomer, Rose O'Bannon. Rose is the younger sister of former champion Violet O'Bannon, so it will be interesting to see what she can do."

"Now, Violet is a very skilled pilot and had a good run during her time with the ZBC." Jim continued. "I'd like to see how her sister does. And like Rose, Violet also used a Liger Zero and used it rather well."

"Next to her is a Gunsniper piloted by Neil Notbob. Neil hasn't made quite the splash of the other ream members, but I'd like to se how he handles things here."

"Well, his Zoid is a lot smaller then the others in the team." Jim explained. "But despite its size, the Gunsniper is a very capable platform and can be quite a nasty opponent in the right hands."

"Rounding out the team, piloting their sole flying Zoid is Tasch Stoermer." Henry continued. "Now I'm looking at that Redler, Jim, and from here it looks rather unusual."

"Indeed, Henry." Jim explained. "The booster son its back aren't a normal fit for a Redler, so there's some interesting customisation work going on there. And its one of those rare black Redlers, which makes it even more unusual."

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Stoermer the name of that famous Gilvader pilot from the first continental war?" Henry asked. "Makes you wonder if there's a connection."

"Well, as you know, anything can happen in the ZBC." Jim finished as the massive doors at the other end of the arena opened, allowing the other team to enter. Almost immediately, a white and red Blade Liger stepped out, roaring loudly as it halted at the edge of the arena.

"And also making their debut today is another new team, the Black Hands." Henry called out. "Unlike the Broken Chairs, three of the four members of the Black Hands are experienced pilots with experience in the competition. However, for two of them, this is still their first time as a part of the team competition."

"Slash Schnauzer has a very interesting reputation in the singles circuit." Jim offered. "I'll be interesting to see if he can put his attitude and his ego aside to work with a team. Even though he is leading them, I'm not sure if he's really up to the task. The man does have his authority issues."

"Well, I want to see if Slash will be just as good in a team as he is on his own." Henry continued.

"You mean if he can accumulate as many fines for arguing with the judges." Jim replied with a snigger. Down in the arena, the grey and purple Genosaurer stomped out, pulling up next to the Liger. "With him is former darling of the singles circuit, Ariel Mychelle. Ariel, if you will recall, quit halfway through her first season last year. Before that, she had accumulated a nearly unbroken string."

"That's right, Jim." Henry continued. "She'd been all wins, a few draws and only a single loss when she quit. Interestingly enough, it was after that loss that she chose to leave the ZBC. An interesting, if controversial move, wouldn't you say?"

"But we do recall that Ms Mychelle was also prone to having the odd disagreement with the judge's rulings." Jim added. "But now she's back with a better Zoid and a team. So let's see what happens."

"Also in this team, and the only one with experience outside of the Singles competition, is Bill Peterson." Henry continued. "Bill, if you recall, was a member of the now-defunct Blue Dragons last year. The team did well in the first half of the competition, and then crashed and burned in the second. Why do you think that was, Jim?"

"The story goes that Bill had gotten obsessive with grudge matches against a single pilot who had beaten him once, even going so far as to try to challenge him out of competition." Jim began. "But when Krystal Lake, one of the most successful members of the team and, by some reports, Bill's fiancée abruptly left, the team went into a severe decline."

"Challenging someone off field, eh?" Henry interjected. "Sounds almost like something you'd expect from the NUBG."

"Now don't you say that!" Jim replied, sounding like an angry mother scolding a naughty child.

"Sorry about that, Jim." Henry apologised. "Rounding out this team is newcomer Kuro Onishi. Much like the Broken Chairs, Kuro is brand new to the competition. This will be only his third battle ever, and I must say that his choice of Zoid is an interesting one."

"Its what we call a brave decision, Henry." Jim added. "But I will say this much, the kid has guts."

"Well, we'll see how much guts he has, because the Monitor Drone is approaching, and signalling for the start of the battle."

**oOoOo**

Slash sat in the cockpit of his Blade Liger, staring straight at the Liger Zero ahead of him. He narrowed his eyes as he waited for the judges signal to start.

"Hey, Slash?" Kuro asked over the comms channel. "What's the plan? What are we gonna do?"

"Simple." He began. "This team is about vengeance. Use your anger. Focus it on your target, and take him out."

"The Broken Chairs versus the Black Hands." The electronic voice of the battle monitor began. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

The four Zoids of the Black Hands broke into runs, heading straight towards the Broken Chairs. Ariel's Genosaurer was the first to act, firing its back-mounted cannons at the Iron Kong as it charged. The Broken Chairs reacted, not by charging but instead by scattering; Stephen's iron Kong leaped to the left of the Black Hands' main charge, while Rose and Neil went to the right. Tasch's Redler literally leaped straight into the air, heading straight up.

"Mark your targets!" Slash called out as he bought the Blade Liger around, trying to keep the Zero in his sights. "And take them down!"

**oOoOo**

"Okay guys." Rose shouted out as the Zero leaped away from the Blade Liger, dodging a pair of poorly aimed shots. "They're doing just what we thought they would. Time to throw 'em off."

She swerved the Zero away from the Blade Liger, opening up the throttle all the way. As she expected, the Blade Liger opened up its boosters, making a very bad turn while trying to catch her. Rose sprinted her Zoid across the stadium, charging straight at the enemy Command Wolf. The Zoid hadn't noticed her, instead it was firing its back-mounted cannons at Tasch's Redler. Perfect.

She opened fire with the impact cannon, the shots narrowly missing the Command Wolf. The Zoid turned towards her, then suddenly glanced back at the Redler. Seeing a chance, Rose ran at it, the Liger's claws building up a golden glow on them as they prepared to strike. The Command Wolf pilot, suddenly realising his situation, leaped out of her way before she could attack, however.

Rose spun the liger around, opening fire with the tail-mounted beam cannon. The shots struck the Zoid's flanks, staggering the Command Wolf but not doing enough to drop it. The Command Wolf responded by spinning around its turret and opening fire on Rose's Liger as it sped off. Before the Command Wolf could turn to chase her, the Blade Liger literally ran between the two of them, the larger Zoid turning to snarl at the Wolf.

"What do you think you're doing?" Slash yelled. "She's my target, damn it!"

"What?" Bill yelled back. "But she attacked me!"

"That doesn't matter!" Slash snapped. "You worry about the Redler. I'll deal with her!"

As if on cue, Tasch's Redler swooped down on the pair of them. The black Zoid opened fire with its twin beam cannons, but this time shot at the Blade Liger rather then the Command Wolf. The shots grazed the armour on the Liger's back, shaking it but not doing any severe damage.

"Don't just stand there you moron!" Slash shouted. "Get her!" The Liger's boosters fired, the Zoid again taking off after Rose's machine.

Bill's Command Wolf also started running, heading away from the Blade Liger. He swivelled around the turret, and again opened fire on the Redler. "This ought to teach you to mess around with me like that." He sneered as the shots flew at the flying Zoid. To his annoyance, however, the Redler fired its boosters, ducking and weaving around in the air, managing to avoid his shots.

"Hey! Come back here you…" The Redler sped off, leaving the Command Wolf behind. Bill spun the Wolf around, the Zoid skidding on the arena floor before it charged after the Redler. "Come back here! Don't you just ignore me like that!" He shouted out.

Several more shots went past his Zoid, peppering the ground in front of it. He yanked on the control stick, pulling the Zoid away from the line if enemy fire. Glancing around, he could see the enemy Gunsniper running towards him, firing its two wrist mounted vulcans at his Zoid. Behind it was Kuro's Saberlion, the smaller Zoid desperately trying to make up distance on its opponent.

"Hey you numbnuts!" Bill called out. "Can't you take care of your own opponent? I've got farm ore important things to do here!" The Wolf skipped around, trying desperately to avoid any further damage!"

"He's running away from me!" Kuro called back, sounding almost like he was about to cry. "He won't fight fair!"

Bill snarled under his breath, then opened up the Command Wolf's throttle. The quadruped Zoid sprinted away from the Gunsniper, its pilot trying to avoid the enemy Zoid's shots. "I don't care about that! Do something about him already!"

The Gunsniper rippled off a volley of rockets from its back mounted pod. The missiles slammed into the rear of the Command Wolf, sending the Zoid sprawling forwards, smashing it face first into the ground. Bill shook his head to clear it, then noticed the red "Command System Freeze" warning on the HUD. "Damn you!" he shouted back at both Kuro and the Gunsniper.

"Slash, I'm out of action!" He called out over the comms system. "It's all that idiot Kuro's fault!"

**oOoOo**

"I don't care about that!" Slash yelled back as another shot hit the back of his Liger. "You didn't do your job properly, and now I've got this stupid Redler on my tail!" He swerved the controls, the Blade Liger cutting across a sharp turn, then sprinting away from the other Zoid. To his annoyance, the Redler pilot managed to match his turn, then continued her attack.

"Ariel!" he snarled over the communications channel. "I need your support here!"

"No." She stated. "I have my own task. I must defeat this opponent." She closed the channel before Slash could reply, focusing instead on the enemy Zoid in front of her. The Iron Kong had managed to evade her first volley of fire, but she knew he wouldn't be so lucky a second time. The Genosaurer lunged forwards, firing its back mounted cannons at the enemy Zoid.

The Iron Kong twisted to one side, its back mounted verniers assisting it. One of the shots went wide, the other one striking the left side of its body as it went. The enemy pilot retaliated, opening fire with his own large beam cannon. The shot blasted into the left side of the Genosaurer, blasting the armour off her Zoid's right hip.

She twisted around, then charged at him. She knew that the Genosaurer was far faster then his machine, giving her one advantage. All she needed was an opportunity to exploit it. The Kong skidded to a halt from its attempt to dodge her, then charged forwards, coming at her. The Genosaur lunged forwards, its jaws snapping at the enemy Zoid. The Kong swung around, but wasn't fast enough. The Genosar closed its jaws around the other Zoid's right arm, its teeth sinking into the thick armoured plating.

The Iron Kong swung around, its left fist smashing into the side of the Genosaurer's body. The impact of the blow staggered it back, forcing her to release her grip on the other Zoid's arm. However, she could see that she had left her mark, the with the plating over the forearm shredded by her attack.

_Now to finish him off. I won't let you defeat me again. _She lunged at the other Zoid again, but the enemy pilot seemed to be ready for this. The Iron Kong's boosters fired, the larger Zoid leaping backwards away from her, firing the wrist-mounted cannon as it went. Several shots hit her Zoid, but didn't do any significant damage.

She opened fire again with the back mounted cannons, this time scoring a pair of direct hits on the Iron Kong's chest. The Zoid staggered back as it landed, its pilot thrown by the force of her shots. Seeing an opportunity, she prepared to strike again, when a beep from the sensors interrupted her.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw the Liger Zero seemingly leap out of nowhere, coming straight at her Zoid. The Zero sliced downwards, its claws leaving a golden arc in the air as they came down, cleaving through the Genosaurer's exposed hip. The Zoid shuddered, then collapsed as the damaged hip gave out.

"How dare you!" She called out as the red 'Combat System Freeze' warning came up on her screens. She seethed with anger as the white Liger Zero stood over her Zoid. _That fool had interfered with our duel. How… dishonourable. _She balled up her fists, and focused on the Zero. _You are beneath contempt for what you have done._

**oOoOo**

"Nice work there, Rose." Stephen called out over the Iron Kong's communications system. "You got her good there."

"Ah, it was nothing." Rose called back. You set her up well and – look out!"

Stephen twisted the Zoid around as something else approached him. Neil's Gunsniper sprinted past the bigger Zoid, a Saberlion chasing after it. The Saberlion leaped at the Gunsniper, only to be smashed out of the air by a pair of shots from the Iron Kong's Wrist gun. The Saberlion crashed to the ground, skidding to a halt next to the downed Genosaurer.

"Well that took care of that." Neil began. "Thanks for the gratuitous overkill there, buddy, but I could have handled him. Really."

"Where's Tasch got to?" Stephen asked.

"With her, who can tell?" Rose interjected.

"Hey, I know where I am." Tasch interjected. She was on the other side of the Arena, her Redler still weaving and twisting in the air as it pursued Slash's Blade Liger. She'd been happily chasing after it, taking pot shots at it while the other Zoid was powerless to do anything about it. "I'm chasing that Blade Liger and he's runnin' around a lot, that's all."

"You don't need any help there?" Neil asked.

"Naw, its okay. I got it all under control." She replied casually, the sound of the beam cannons firing in the background.

The Blade Liger took another hit to the back, blasting off its back fin and adding to its considerable collection of scars from Tasch's hits. "That's it." Slash snarled. "You are such a weak and pathetic fighter. I should have you disqualified for what you've done." The liger shook as another hit struck it, providing the Redler pilot's reply. "Damn it! Now you die!"

The Blade Liger spun around, then charged straight at the Redler. Slash leaped into the air, firing both the Attack Boosters and the Liger's integral boosters. The Zoid flew straight at the Redler, its blades outstretched.

Tasch twisted the footpedals and yanked back on the stick, the Redler suddenly sliding to the right and twisting around in mid air. With no ability to manoeuvre in mid-flight, the Blade Liger sailed straight past her, gravity suddenly catching up with it.

"Now I gotcha!" Tasch called out. The Redler opened fire with its beam cannons, the shots tearing into the Blade Liger's underside while it was exposed during the descent. The Blade Liger stumbled when it hit the ground, then flipped over, landing flat on its back. "Did I get him?" Tasch asked.

A monitor drone flew over the field, surveying the downed Liger. "The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause. "The winner is the Broken Chairs!"

"Yeah!" She added, excitedly. "Go me!"

**oOoOo**

Slash stormed out of the cockpit of his downed Blade Liger, storming over to where the rest of his team were waiting. "You bunch of idiots!" He called out. "How could you let yourselves get defeated so easily? We lost because the three of you messed up!"

"Hang on a second!" Bill called out. "How did I mess up?"

"You were meant to take care of that Redler." He snapped. "Instead, you let yourself get distracted, and it got me. Remember, she was the one that defeated you!"

"Hang on!" He yelled back. "If anyone's to blame for that, it's Kuro! He was supposed to take care of the Gunsniper!"

"What?" Kuro replied. "I tried to get him, but he cheated! He wouldn't fight fair and let me attack him!"

"If anyone is to blame for out defeat, its you, Slash." Ariel replied, glaring straight at him. "You let that honourless Liger pilot attack me, interfering in my duel. You were supposed to take care of them."

"Well I would have, had Bill done his job properly!" He snapped back.

"Well I would have had Kuro done his job properly!" Bill countered.

All three of them turned to glare at the youngest member of their team. Even though he was taller then Ariel, he still felt intimidated by her. "I…" He began. "I… I tried to get the Gunsniper. Really I did. Honest! But he… he…" He seemed to be on the verge of crying.

The four members of the Broken Chairs watched the still arguing members of the Black Hands. "What do you think we should do?" Stephen asked.

"Well, we could go over there and point out that we won because they were all acting like a bunch of overzealous four-year-olds, and the temper tantrums won't help any." Neil offered.

"Well, there's always the 'play nice' option." Rose added. 'We tell them that they did a good job-"

"-even though they didn't." Tasch added.

"-in a way to mollify them and stop this form degenerating into some sort of silly feud." She finished.

"Yeah, it would be silly." Tasch continued. "I mean, we'd end up hatin' each other and not being civil in public, and then there'd be fightin' on the streets… and when somebody's daughter tries to marry the other guys son, they'll both die tragically."

There was a pause.

"Let's go." Neil finished. "Before things get really Shakesperian."

They approached the other team. "No hard feelings, right?" Rose began. "You guys fought well and-"

"YOU!" Ariel shouted, marching over to Rose. "How dare you interfere in our battle like that! The way you struck me down was one of the most cowardly, dishonourable things I have ever seen!"

"Whoah, hang on there." Rose replied, casually. She smiled, then continued. "It was just me fighting tactically, you know. No need to blow your top over it."

Ariel fumed, looking like she was ready to explode at Rose. "Don't think I'll forget this." She snapped, then turned and walked off.

"And what did you think you were doing?" Slash all but yelled at Tasch. "How dare you use such a… a cheap attack!"

"I was jus' fighting you." Tasch replied, casually. "All I did was shoot at yer Zoid. It's what we do in these Zoid battles."

"Well your attacks were… cowardly!" He snapped. "Yes, cowardly. You should be ashamed of yourself for your conduct."

"Well that'd be silly." Tasch replied. "I mean, I've been rather nice and gracious about it. Your the one who's being all shouty."

"I mean, the way you fought." Slash replied. "Your behaviour… it was just… just… unacceptable."

"Well, I fought the best way I could against a Blade Liger." Tasch continued. "I mean, you were a bit silly for runnin' off without any sorta air support or something that coulda shot me down."

Slash turned back to Bill, who grinned in a cheesy, and rather guilty-looking manner. "I'll deal with you later." He finished then walked off, following Ariel.

"You two got any whinging to do?" Stephen asked.

"Ahhh…" Bill began, glancing at the four members of the Broken Chairs, then at Slash and Ariel. "No, I think I'm done now. Goodbye." He finished, all but running away from them. Kuro glanced at Bill and the others, then ran off after them.

"Well that went well." Neil finished. "Remind me never to be gracious in victory again."

"Don't worry about it." Rose replied. "We won, they lost. More to the point, we managed to out-smart them." She casually dropped an arm over his shoulder. "And we came out looking better for not gloating or having hissy fits."

"You're so modest, Rose." Neil replied.

"Don't worry about it." Stephen continued. "We're in the team competition now. We won our first real battle-"

"-which was our third battle overall." Tasch added. "Well, the team's second, and each of ours third."

Stephen wanted to keep going, but he couldn't. Instead, Neil spoke up. "What you're saying is that we've done well and we should feel good about it, right?"

"Well, yes." He admitted.

"Cool beans." Neil finished. "So let's stop ruminating on how cool the battle was and why we won. I'm starving."

**oOoOo**


	4. Firestormers

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Four - Firestormers

By Rick R.

Unlike the rest of the arena facility, the team ready rooms were the only places where you were allowed to smoke. It was a concession made by the ZBC to those pilots who liked to smoke before a battle to clam nerves or help them concentrate, but didn't want to walk through miles of building in order to do it. Of course, it wasn't an option that sat well with everyone.

Akira, one of the pilots for the Renegade Legion scowled as he waited in the ready room with the rest of his team. Tall and slender, he sported very long red hair tied off into a ponytail and rather slim, almost feminine facial features. The current source of his anger was his team's leader, CK. "Do you have to smoke that?" He muttered.

CK himself was pacing the room, a cigar clenched between his nicotine-stained teeth. Larger then Akira, he was a barrel-chested man with close-cropped blond hair. He finished his last lap of the room, then turned back to his team, ignoring Akira's comment for now. "Okay, Renegade Legion, listen up. This is a very, very important match for us, one that I don't intend to loose."

"We're in the second round, but our battle against the Rock Lords was a lot tougher and a lot closer then I would have liked." He continued. "So let's not mess this up, shall we, Dave?"

"Sorry boss." 'Chopper' Dave, the third member of the team replied. He sported a shaved, almost bullet-shaped head, thick brows and prominent front teeth. "It won't happen again."

"It had better not." CK replied. "Now we're up against the Firestorm team today; they made it pretty far last year. And even if they have changed their team a bit since then, they're still a force to be reckoned with. I want the very best out of each and every one of you today, do you understand?"

"Don't worry about it, CK." Porsha Lemans, the team's only female member replied. She was almost as large and heavyset as CK, with short, black hair, sunken eyes and a surprisingly broad mouth and thick lips. "They won't stand a chance against us. We'll get out there and run them straight into the ground!" And then, to Akira's considerable irritation, she broke out into a round of her obnoxiously loud, eardrum-shattering laugh.

"That's right, Porsha." CK replied, with a grin and a malevolent twinkle in his eye. "Once we get out there, we'll show them what we're made of. And after that… well… if any of them are left standing, they'll see just how tough we can be." He smirked, then stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray. "Let's go, team."

"It's a gorgeous morning here at the start of the second round of the ZBC team tournament." Henry J. Urgleflogger began as he looked over the arena from his announcer's booth. "I'm Henry J Urgleflogger here with 'Big' Jim Beef and we will be your commentators for today's round of competition."

"The first round saw a number of good matches." Jim continued. "So let's see what the second round has to offer us in the way of competition."

The hanger doors at one end of the arena opened up, a mismatched quartet of Zoids stepping out into the sunshine. A Gravity Wolf lead the squad, followed by a Leomaster. A Doublesworder, equipped with a Bomber Unit stood on one side of the team, while a black and purple Storm Sworder was on the other.

"Out first we have the Renegade Legion, a team that has been with the ZBC for some time." Henry explained.

"And they've been losing for most of that." Big Jim added. "They have a tendency to start out the season strong and then choke in the third or fourth round, never to rise again."

"Well, CK has said that this year will be Legion's big year." Henry offered. "So we could be in for a surprise or two."

"He says that every year." Jim muttered.

The other set of hangar doors opened, allowing the second team to enter. Their Zoids were a bit less diverse and mismatched looking then the first team, consisting of a Death Raser, a Parablade, an Arosaurer equipped with a pair of booster cannons and a blue Koenig Wolf. "Facing them today will be team Firestorm, who came very close to the top last year. They finished just outside of the top five, and are looking to do better this time around."

"Firestorm has dumped two of their old team members in favour of a couple of new ones." Jim continued. "Krystal Lake, formally of the Blue Dragons, and Drake Storm who is nominally a singles pilot. Krystal was easily the best in her team, and Drake's known to be good. So this could be a team to keep your eyes on."

"They had a rather easy victory over the Green Machine during the first round, so lets see how they do now." Henry began.

"They're going in with a small disadvantage; the other team has two Zoids that can fly, whereas Firestorm have none." Jim commented. "And Akira is a talented pilot."

"And here comes the ZBC monitor drone now." Jim spoke up as the small drone hovered over the arena.

"The Renegade Legion versus the Firestorm Team." The electronic voice of the battle monitor began. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

The Renegade Legion literally leaped into the battle, the Leomaster and Gravity Wolf tearing across the battlefield while the Storm Sworder and Doublesworder took to the air. Firestorm's pilots responded by scattering, each one of them heading off in a different direction. Firing its boosters, the Arosaurer accelerated ahead of the team, before suddenly swerving to one side and opening fire with the dual beam cannons.

The shots struck the Doublesworder in the side, catching the Zoid and pilot unawares. The Zoid flipped over, then crashed to the arena floor, skidding along on its side before coming to a halt, clearly out of action.

"There goes Chopper Dave! First blood to Firestorm!" Henry called out.

"No surprises there. Chopper Dave is always the first one out of action." Jim commented.

The Storm Sworder dived towards the Arosaurer, only to be greeted by a hail of fire from it and the Parablade. The pilot pulled away, trying to consider his options before the next strike. On the ground, the Gravity Wolf tore ahead of the Leomaster, opening fore with its single Gravity Missile.

The Koenig Wolf's pilot saw the incoming shot, reacting before it could strike. Skewing his Zoid to one side, he opened up with a quintet of missiles form one of the Zoid's side pods. The missiles slammed into the Wolf's projectile, detonating it in mid-flight and well away from the rest of the team.

"Nice intercept by Drake!" Henry called out. "He smacked that one right out of the air!"

The Leomaster passed by the Gravity Wolf, its pilot opening fire with its twin back-mounted beam cannons. One of the shots tore through the empty missile pod on the Wolf's shoulder, while the others went wide. Fiercely evading the other pilot's fire, Drake charged down the field at the enemy Zoid, deploying his twin cannons as he ran straight at the Leomaster, then firing. The shots seemed to have the desired effect. The high-powered rounds blasted through the housings of the twin cannons, blasting them apart.

"Nasty blow there to Porsha." Henry commented. "That could be it for her."

"Not so fast, boy." Jim added. "If I know Porsha, this won't deter her one bit."

As if to prove him right, the Leomaster charged downfield straight at the Koenig Wolf. As it went, the Zoid's Energy Shield activated, a hemispherical barrier forming around the Zoid's front end. "One thing that Porsha loves to do," Jim commented, "Is shield-ram opponents. Looks like she wants to give Drake a taste of that too."

The Koenig Wolf charged straight at its opponent, not wavering its course at all. However, as the two closed, its twin dischargers mounted on the back began billowing out clouds of black smoke. As the Liger charged in, the Wolf suddenly leaped over it, still trailing smoke from it's back. The Liger passed right under it, vanishing into a cloud of black smoke, while the Wolf landed and skidded, its pilot bringing it around an impossibly tight turn.

The Wolf's multi-function goggles flipped down over the Zoid's face, allowing its pilot to see through the cloud of smoke. Before the Liger could respond, the Zoid's twin rifles opened fire again, firing into the cloud with precision accuracy. After firing several rounds, the Wolf halted. Then, at the far edge of the cloud, the battered Leomaster staggered forwards, then collapsed.

"Porsha's down!" Jim called out. "That's now two nil to the Firestorm Team, and things are looking grim for the Renegades."

"Well, it looks like CK Is going to do something about that." Henry added.

The Gravity Wolf charged at the Koenig Wolf from behind, aiming to plough straight into it. However, before it could strike, Drake swerved out of its way, allowing the Gravity Zoid to pass straight by him. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, he opened fire with one of the missile pods.

The five missiles streaked towards the fleeing Zoid, which turned sharply against them. The missiles, now travelling far faster then the Zoid, were unable to match the manoeuvre and instead ploughed into the ground. For a moment, the Gravity Wolf had escaped its attacker…

…only to run straight into the Death Raser. The Zoid's electron cannon fired, sending a blast of cracking blue-white energy into the Wolf's body. The Zoid staggered under the impact, its driver losing control of the machine causing it to skid across the arena floor. The Death Raser's pilot saw this as an opportunity, lashing out with his machine's large claws and slicing through the wolf's flank. The Wolf skidded to a halt against one of the arena walls, unable to move.

"And now CK is down! This looks like the end for the Renegades!" Henry called out.

"Well, maybe Akira will get lucky and salvage the situation. Maybe." Jim muttered as the Storm Sworder made a run on the Parablade, which had been isolated form the rest of the team. The Sworder peppered the ground with shots from its wing beam cannons, several of which hit the smaller opponent. The Parablade replied with its own plasma cannons, the shots narrowly missing the Storm Sworder, but at least forcing it to peel away.

The pilot looped around and came back for another pass at the Parablade. Before he could strike, however, the Death Raser appeared out of seemingly nowhere, barging right into the path of the oncoming Airborne Zoid. The shots from the Storm Sworder's beam cannons bounced away from its hull at odd angles, seemingly not doing any damage.

Death Raser charged forwards, momentarily leaping into the air as its four wings cracked with energy. Realising what was about to happen, the Storm Sworder's pilot tried to turn away, but was too late. The Plasma blades tore through the Storm Sworder's wing, tearing it apart. The black Zoid plummeted down, crashing onto one side on the arena floor before halting. Behind it, the Death Raser landed in a crouch, as if ready to strike again.

A monitor drone flew over the field, surveying the downed Zoids. "The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause. "The winner is the Firestorm team!"

"Four-nil to the Firestorm team!" Jim called out. "A great battle and a great victory for the Firestorms!"

"Well, it looks like their new team is defiantly paying off." Henry continued. "And it'll be interesting to see how they fare in their next battle."

"Wooo-yeah!" Miles slate shouted as he opened the cockpit of his Death Raser. "Now that was good." He stood up, then glanced back over the length of his Zoid. Of average height and build, he had short spikey brown hair and brown eyes, as well as a small goatee beard, giving him a handsome, if roguish look. He was dressed in a grey one-piece pilot's suit with a red trim, with a grey jacket over that. "Not bad at all," he added as he looked over the Zoid. Save for a few scorched marks on the paint, where the Storm Sworder's beams had bounced off it, the Zoid was undamaged.

He climbed out of the Zoid, leaping down the last few feet from the ladder to the floor. The battle had gone very well, he figured. They'd managed to knock out the entire team without a single loss, the third time that they'd managed to do that out of three matches. _Nice, _he thought to himself. Of course, the added bonus was that he'd knocked out two of the enemy Zoids himself, and would get more individual points then the rest of the team. _Very nice._

"Hey there." A feminine voice began behind him. Turning around, he could see Krystal standing behind him, a smile on her pouty lips. A bit below average height, she made up for it in other ways, he figured. She had platinum-blonde hair (that he knew was not natural, and didn't care), tanned skin and sparkling blue eyes. She was in her pilot's outfit, a legless one piece costume who's plunging neckline showed off her considerable cleavage. "How you doing, Miles?"

"Pretty damned good, Krys." He replied with a smirk. "Stuff that, I feel frickin' fantastic. We kicked arse today. We ripped those guys apart and walked all over 'em. Damn it, the Firestorm team are…"

"On fire?" She began, and giggled.

"Yeah…" He replied, and laughed. "I guess we are." He walked on up next to her, and wrapped an arm around her waist. "And, damn it, if we aren't also one of the hottest teams around."

"Well…" She began. "You know how it goes. Some like it hot."

"You know I do, babe." He smirked in reply, his had dropping down to grab at her firm rear end. She just smiled back.

"Hey Miles." Eliot Morgan, the pilot of the Parablade began as he approached. About the same height as Miles, he was slightly overweight. He had small brown eyes and hair spiked up in an imitation of Miles' own style.

"Oh, hey Eliot." Miles began, casually. "Nice work out there."

"You reckon?" He nervously began. "I mean I did get hit a few times and I'm sorry about that…"

"Don't worry about it." Miles replied, waving his arm (The other one still fondling Krystal's shapely rear.) "We all mess up on occasion. And you did good otherwise."

"You think?"

"Don't worry about it." Miles repeated. Truth being told, Eliot was a decent pilot, being the only other remaining member of the old Firestorm team. Miles liked him because, well, he was a total kiss-up and rather easy to use and control. And there were certain other advantages to having him on the team.

"Thanks for that, Miles." He nervously replied. "I'm glad I could help."

"You did a great job keeping that Storm Sworder off our backs." He continued. "And you also gave me a great chance to swat it."

"Really? I didn't think of it like that."

"Hey where's Drake?" Krystal asked, clearly bored with the current conversation. Slipping away from Miles for the moment, she looked around the bay for him. She could see his blue Koenig Wolf, but no sign of him near it. Then she sighted him, standing by one of the monitors.

Leaving miles for a moment, she walked over to where Drake was watching the screen. He towered over her, being tall and muscular. He had long, ash blond hair that was tied into a ponytail, blue eyes and tanned skin. (but not as much as hers… and unlike her, his hair was naturally that colour) He was dressed in a form-fitting blue and grey flightsuit, with a long grey coat over that. "Hi Drake." She began, trying to put a slightly sultry tone in her voice.

"Oh, hi there." He casually replied, not taking his eyes off the monitor.

She glanced up at it for a moment, noticing that it was another Zoid battle in progress. "Good battle today, huh?" She continued. "You totally kicked that Zoid's butt."

"It was a good battle, yes." He commented. "We won without too much difficulty; nobody was knocked out and none of the Zoids suffered any severe damage."

Krystal pouted. He was only paying her the minimum of attention, seemingly more interested in the battle then her. She couldn't see how, but glanced up at the screen to see what was so important. As she watched, a black Redler shot past a Brachios in a bizarre sidewards leap, firing a pair of beam cannons into the other Zoid's side. Before the Brachios pilot could respond, a Gunsniper also opened fire on it.

"Fascinating." Drake commented. "Interesting technique."

"Whatever." She muttered. "Hey Drake, we're gonna go out after the battle. You wanna come?"

"Sure." He replied, still not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Riiight." She drawled. Shrugging, she walked back over to Miles, sliding on up next to him. _At least some people can appreciate me_, she thought.

The Firestorm was not the only team competing that day. The Broken Chairs had also been in a match, in fact it was the next one after that. It had been a victory, which had lead to their inevitable post-match celebratory meal. The team had found a pub near the arena that also sported a small restaurant and grills area, which did the most amazing hamburgers, which had quickly become their favourite.

"To the Broken Chairs!" Stephen began, holding up his beer.

"The Broken Chairs!" They all replied, toasting then drinking. Stephen noted that neither Neil or Tasch were drinking alcohol, instead they were both sticking to soft drinks. On the other hand he didn't want to think about Tasch drunk.

"We did good today, guys." He continued. "Another four-nil victory."

"Yeah, but those Red-and-Whites were still plenty tough." Neil commented. "They certainly gave you a run for your money."

"Yeah, well…" Stephen began. The entire enemy team had decided to all shoot at him at once. It'd made his job rather hard, and left the Iron Kong's armour rather battered and in need of substantial repairs. "Still it gave you guys a chance to go at them while they were distracted."

"That much is true. I don't think that Cannon Tort pilot knew what was coming to him." Rose began.

"You leaped at him and Strike Laser Clawed his Zoid." Neil added as he picked up a chip from Tasch's plate. "Some people might argue that was a little unfair." He dipped in the salsa on Rose's plate, then took a bite out of it.

"Well, he probably woulda just tried to blast her instead with his big ol' cannon" Tasch replied. "So I reckon that it's fair."

"Ever pragmatic and remarkably insightful." Neil finished. "I can't argue with your flawless logic."

"'sides, it got me my singles points, and a kill's a kill." Rose added, smiling. "Even if it isn't that many points."

"Well, we're now twelve-nil as a team." Stephen finished. "We've done pretty damn well for ourselves so far, even if it is only still early days."

"Yeah, but you gotta think…" Tasch began. "Are we doin' well, or are our opponents doin' badly? I mean, we got real lucky with the Black hands, as they were all obsessed with takin' out us individually. And that last team, well, they got all focused on yer one Zoid without thinkin' about anything else."

"Hmm… good point." Neil continued. "We've been lucky in that regard so far."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if our luck continued like that." Rose continued. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be handed easy victories, but, at the same time, I don't mind a little help every now and then."

"I can see what Tasch is saying." Stephen spoke up. "We have gotten pretty lucky so far. But I don't think that we can rely on that luck any longer. We're going to be fighting ever increasingly better, or at least, more successful teams. We really, really need to think more about our planning, our tactics, our teamwork and the like."

"I thought we've been pretty good so far." Rose commented.

"We've been good, but I think we can do better." Stephen continued. "Our primary strength is the diversity of our Zoids. We've got something to cover most anything we need to do; long-range combat, close combat, high-speed strikes, air combat and so on. But, at the same time, it's also a weakness. We're not able to focus on any one given thing."

"What do you mean?" Neil asked.

"Okay, take the Black Warriors." Stephen began. "Had they been better coordinated, they could have crushed us with long-range fire. They had a single, definite strength, but fortunately, they weren't able to use it. Should we encounter a specialised team who are better coordinated, then we could be in trouble."

"Point." Neil began, stealing one of Stephen's chips. "So, question is, what do we do from here?"

"Yeah, I mean, I think we're pretty good as we are." Rose added.

"We'll just have to work harder." Stephen commented. "We'll get more practice at working together and try to see what we can do. We've got the abilities; we just need to mash them better."

"Nice idea." Neil replied. "Where'd that come from?"

"My team leader in my old job." Stephen shrugged. "'course that was his way of saying 'you're all a bunch of lazy bums who are making me look bad.'"

"Nice guy." Rose commented. "Don't tell me, he's why you no longer work there."

"Yeah. It turned out that I was ill-suited to office work."

"And it'd be kinda silly too." Tasch added. "I mean, you couldn't use an Iron Kong in an office, could ya?"

This resulted in a round of laughs from everyone else at the table, mainly at the image of it. Of course, Stephen couldn't tell if she was being serious or not; it was often very hard to tell such things with her.

"'scuse me, guys." a voice behind Stephen began. Looking around, he could see a quartet of people standing around the table. The one that most immediately caught his attention was a rather under-dressed young woman; she was shorter then either Rose or Tasch (Which wasn't hard), but apparently better endowed, and dressed in a miniskirt, very small top and sporting a prominent navel ring.

"And you are?" Neil asked, looking up at the group. He turned to the speaker, a mid-sized man with a goatee beard.

"Miles Slate, leader of the Firestorm team." He replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down at the table. "You guys are the Broken Chairs, right?"

"We are them, yeah." Tasch replied. Rose said nothing, but appeared to be blushing. Stephen figured it was due to the tall blond man standing next to her.

"So what of it?" he asked.

"We saw your battle earlier today and thought it was rather impressive." Miles continued.

"We musta missed yours." Neil spoke up. "Or at least, I wasn't paying enough attention. I do it a lot."

"Naw, we were on right before you guys." Miles replied. "Anyways, we couldn't help but notice that you guys went four-nil in that battle. It's pretty impressive."

"We try our best." Stephen explained. Both Tasch and Neil nodded, while Rose seemingly squeaked.

"I know what you mean." Miles continued. "Like you, we've been doing rather well so far. We were also four-nil in our last battle, and all our battles so far this season."

"Not bad." Neil commented. "I'll assume that includes your tryout battle and be impressed then."

"So is there a reason why you're pointing out all this to us, or are you just bragging?" Stephen asked.

"Well, I figured that sooner or later, our two teams are gonna run across each other." Miles explained. "And I also figured that it'd be nice to get to know each other socially before we have to fight each other, you know."

"Well that's awfully polite of y'all." Tasch began. "Anyways, my name's Tasch Stoermer."

"Hey, Stoermer?" The shortest of the three men began. "Is that as in that Gilvader pilot?"

"No!" She loudly objected. "Dangit, why does everyone keep sayin' that?"

"Sorry about that." Miles continued. "This is Eliot Morgan, Krystal Lake and Drake Storm."

"Storm?" Stephen asked. "Weren't you in the top five of last year's singles competition?"

"I was, yes." The tall, long-haired man replied. "This year i'm trying something different."

"Interesting." He replied. "Sorry, where are my manners. I'm Stephen Chesterton. This is Neil Notbob and Rose O'Bannon. You've met Tasch."

"Hey." Neil casually began, swiping another chip. Rose managed a squeak.

"You're not related to Violet O'Bannon, are you?" Drake asked her.

"Yes." She managed to squeeze out.

"Interesting. I look forward to meeting you in battle one day."

"Yep." She squeaked again.

He turned to look at Tasch. "You too. I've seen the way you fight. Your technique is... interesting to say the least."

"It is?" Tasch asked. "Well heck, I never thought of it like that."

He nodded. "Yes, it is. It must have taken ages for you to develop it."

"Well..." Tasch began. "I guess. I mean, I've been pilotin' a Zoid for a few years now."

"Anyway." Miles continued, looking over his team. Krystal looked bored out of her skull, and Eliot seemed to be unsure about Tasch. "We've got to go... but its been nice meeting you guys. I hope we run across you again in some way or another." He smiled a rougish smile. "So... see you guys later then." he walked off, the others following.

Before he left, Drake turned back to the table. "Good luck, all of you. You're exceptional pilots."

"Eeep." Rose replied, blushing more.

"Well that was weird." Neil commented after they'd done. "I mean, even by the standards of Zoid battles. What do you think that was about?"

"Maybe they were trying to get us off-balance." Stephen commented. "Or they were getting to know us, to look for a weakness."

"I think they found one." Neil indicated to Rose, who was still blushing, with an absent look on her face. "Hey Rose? You okay

there?"

"Umm..." She began. "Yeah. I am. Really."

"Suuure." Neil replied.

"Ah, I dunno." Tasch commented. "I thought it was kinda nice of 'em. I think that more people should do that, y'know? Too much of the interaction in the tourney is just shoot, hit and stuff. Maybe if we all knew each other better, things'd be a bit nicer."

Stephen and Neil both glanced at her and at each other. "...I wonder if she's always like this." Stephen began.

"Well, they say people form Nyx are meant to be odd." Stephen replied. "And she's the only one i've ever met from there, and she fits the bill."

"Yeah, but that's supposed to be odd in a scary and overly dramatic' way." Neil commented. "Of course, she does scare me on occasion..."

"The battle is over!" A Judge Drone announced as it flew over a battlefield. "The winner is the Golden Eagles team!"

Ariel Mychelle clambered out of the cockpit of her downed Zoid, glaring over the arena. She could see Zoids of the other three members of her team, all lying deactivated where thy had fallen. The fact that two of the enemy Zoids were also lying there was not that much of a consolation to her, even though she had been responsible for both of them. As she observed, the enemy team leader, a red and yellow Battle Cougar, swooped down and landed on the battlefield.

She narrowed her eyes as she saw her targets. Leaving the Genosaurer behind, she stalked across the arena in a furious march. She knew exactly what she had to do, and now was the best time to do it. No mercy, no remorse. The time to act was now.

It was something she should have done a long time ago.

The leader of the enemy team climbed out of his Zoid, heading towards her. He was a tall, muscular man, with short-cropped black hair, clad in a tan, brown and red jumpsuit. "You did well today." He began, offering his hand. "It was a good-"

Ariel walked straight past him, either ignoring him or not even noticing his existence. Instead, she headed towards Slash's downed Blade Liger. He had just clambered out of the cockpit, and was looking over the Blade Liger. Hearing her approach, he turned around to face her. "Ah, there you are." He began. "I wanted to-"

"You moron!" She shouted, yelling at him seemingly at the top of her lungs. "How could you be such an idiot and let this happen? Your stupidity cost us this battle!"

"What?" He snapped. "Now you listen here!" He narrowed his eyes. "I'm Karl Shnautzer and-"

"I don't care who you are." She seethed. "I'm leaving this team."

"You can't walk away from me!" He snapped. "I own this team! I decide who leaves!"

"Yes I can." She calmly stated, walking straight past him towards one of the service exits.

"You come back here!" Slash shouted. "Don't you dare turn your back on me!" She kept walking. "Fine! Leave us! I don't need you!"

In one of the service tunnels, a lone figure watched the proceedings. He pulled out a mobile phone, and dialed a number. "Hey Bad Wolf." he began. "Looks like we have a stray. I think your favourite lost cub is about to return to the pack."

Bedsides being the administrative hub for the entire ZBC, the commission's headquarters building in the city offered numerous facilities for the use of its members. The ZBC beloved in supporting the warriors represented them to provide a better quality of competition and entertainment for the audiences. At the same time, they also beloved that each warrior had the right to whatever support he may need form the commission.

One of the many facilities available for use was an extensive simulator system. While many teams had their own simulators, the ones the ZBC offered were the best available. Furthermore, they were linked to a larger network of simulators which meant that the pilots had the option of practicing against both AI opponents and real pilots.

The Broken chairs had come in for some practice. They'd spent much of the morning engaged in simulated battles against various other teams, working to improve their coordination and teamwork. It had been exhausting work, Stephen seemingly pushing the team to the limit to see what they could achieve.

"We did well on this one." He explained as he went over the footage from the last simulator battle. The four of them were in a debriefing lounge that was provided for the pilots, which included the opportunity to view footage from their battle. "This was a good moment here." he continued.

He bought up a screen showing a computer-rendered Dark Spiner. As the footage began, the Spiner's flank was peppered with shots from Tasch's Redler. The Spiner turned away for a moment, only to receive a Strike Laser Claw to its side from Rose's Liger, knocking it out of action. "That's some good stuff there."

"Yeah, the energy effects where the claw cut into the Zoid are good." Tasch replied. "They even did the glowy trail an' everything."

"Well... yes." Stephen replied. Truth being told, the team had been a pain to get properly set up for the simulators. Apparently, Tasch's Redler was a one-of-a-kind. Not only was it a very rare model of Redler, but nobody else had heard of one using a CP-24 system. In the end, Stephen had managed to work out a deal with the techs who ran the sims to produce a crude approximation of the Zoid's performance. "But you guys also worked well together at throwing off the enemy Zoid."

"Well, Tasch's really good at being confusing." Rose replied.

"Oooh... smarmy. I'll pay it." Neil added, sipping on his orange juice.

"Excuse me." A female voice interrupted them. Stephen turned to see a young woman enter; she had long obviously coloured red hair and was dressed in a sharp business suit. "The Broken Chairs team, correct?"

"That's us." Stephen replied. "How can I help you?"

"I'm from the ZBC." She explained. "We just had a couple of things that we wanted to cover with you while you were here."

"Go ahead." Neil offered. "We're not going anywhere in a rush."

"Thank you." She began. "The ZBC just wants to let you know that there's been a bit of an increase in NUBG-related activity in the last couple of weeks; there's been some reports of stolen Zoids, as well as people being admitted to emergency with hat are clearly combat related injuries." She glanced over the team. "The ZBC would appreciate it if you kept an eye open for any unusual activity, especially if its Zoid-related."

"NUBG's back?" Rose asked. "I shoulda figured it."

"Enn-ewe-bee-gee?" Tasch asked. "Who in the heck is that?"

"NUBG is an illegal underground Zoid battles organisation." Stephen explained. "They like to see themselves as a rival group to the ZBC, but the truth is that they're just a bunch of criminals."

"NUBG doesn't believe in a lot of the rules that the ZBC uses." Rose continued. "You know, little things like not shotting at the cockpit so you don't kill anyone."

"Well that's kidna silly." Tasch commented. "I mean, who'd wanna be a part of that if you could get killed?"

"Well that's what most people would think." Rose continued. "Of course, the thing is that NUBG's ranks are mostly made up of criminals, dropouts, rejects, losers who couldn't hack it as real Zoid warriors and spotty no-life geeks who think they're cool because they're doing something vaguely illegal."

"You know what I like about you?" Neil began. "You're not prejudicial or opinionated."

"NUBG first showed up a couple of years ago." Stephen explained. "They initially tried 'invading' ZBC official matches, trying to force fights between them and the ZBC. They gave up on that after they lost a few matches. Now they just have fights between NUBG members and do all their stuff in private, supposedly secret arenas." He glanced around at the team. "There's supposed to be a couple of them in this city."

"Makes me wonder what they're up to now." Rose added. "The urban legend has it that they tried to actively recruit ZBC warriors a few years ago. I heard that it backfired badly and somebody got killed."

"Great, isn't it?" Neil continued. "We've got our own class of criminals to go with out cool new jobs."

"Yeah, that's kinda silly." Tasch commented. "That sorta stuff would never happen back home."

"Oh really?" Rose asked. "Why's that?"

"I dunno. We seem to be very law-abidin' people." Tasch commented.

"Probably because the penalty for illegally operating a Zoid is something like death with no time off for good behaviour." Neil jokingly replied.

"Naw, that's a second offence. First time is twenty years labour." She stated, manner of factly.

"Riiight." Stephen began, then turned back to the ZBC official. "Is there anything else, ms?"

"One thing." She replied. "You've got a battle confirmed for this round." She handed him a datapad. "Its against the Firestorm team."

"Well, well." Neil commented. "Very interesting. Maybe we'll get to know 'em better after all."

Unlike the Broken Chairs, who's base was a converted factory, the Firestorm team's base had been purpose built to serve as the headquarters of a Zoid team. While it didn't offer too much more in the way of facilities, the base was a lot more spacious and airy, as well as being cleaner, more comfortable and generally more liveable.

Drake Storm had decided to take advantage of a rare quiet moment to do a little bit of study. Since the announcement that their next battle was going to be against the Broken Chairs, he'd decided to learn more about them. It was always an advantage to know more about your enemies, he figured, as it let you plan better for what they may do.

Besides that, he was fascinated by their performance so far. They'd managed to win all of their battles as a team so far without any of them being disabled. That was impressive enough, but a bit of research had discovered that all four of the team members were amateurs in their first year of competition. Most interestingly, all four of them had managed to make it past their tryout round without any losses. So he was very interested to see what they were capable of.

He'd gotten recordings of their battles thus far and was going over them to see just what thy were capable of, and to determine just how they'd been doing so well. It had made for interesting viewing so far.

"Hey there, Drake." A female voice began. He didn't need to look up to tell it was Krystal. Besides the fact that she was the only female member of the team, the tone of her voice made it obvious. "What's are you up to?"

"Not much." He answered, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Planning for our next battle. You?"

"Not much." She replied, walking past him. He could hear her fingers going across the back of the couch, and then felt them across the back of his shoulders.

_Subtle as ever, Krystal, _he thought.

"Hey, wanna do something together?" She asked, empathising the 'together.' "Seeing as we're not doing anything else right now, that is." She leaned on the end of the couch.

"I'm fine, thanks." He replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.

She sat on the end of the couch for a minute, not doing anything. Drake chose to ignore her for the moment, instead going back to watching the battle. Clearly not wanting to be ignored or admit defeat, she got up again, this time walking right in front of him.

He paused the playback just before she gave out a mock "Excuse me." and then bent over in front of him, presumably to pick up some nonexistent object. In doing such, she made it abundantly clear not only how short her mini skirt was, but the fact that she was wearing a g-string under it. "Got a clear view?" She asked, jokingly.

"No, you're in the way." He factually replied, not sounding either bored or irritated. He generally found the fest way to deal with Krystal was to ignore her and her antics. If someone wasn't paying attention to her, she got bored and gave up. Eventually.

She sighed and straightened up, walking away from the couch for the moment. Drake calmly restarted the recording, hoping to get back to it. His peace was rather short-lived as, about a minute later, she came up behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders.

"So how about it?" She began, breathing into his ear. "Why don't you and I have some fun?"

"Aren't you sleeping with Miles?" He casually asked in reply, pausing the video.

"He doesn't need to know." She answered with a slight giggle.

Drake sighed. "Krystal, don't get me wrong, you're a very attractive young woman-" (Which was a bit of a lie. He found her appearance to be rather fake and unappealing, but felt that it was best to keep on her good side) "-but I'm not interested. Really."

"Awww..." She began, pouting to a ridiculous degree. "Why not?"

"Its a simple rule." He explained. "I don't get involved with team mates. This relationship is a purely professional one. Making it anything else could be a distraction. If I was to get emotionally involved with one of you, it could hamper my effectiveness in the arena." He glanced over at her. "And your team did hire me to help them win, not for my good looks."

"Well, yeah..." She sulkily replied. "But I'm sure one little time won't hurt."

He smiled, then picked one of her arms off him. "I'm flattered, but I'd rather not."

"I guess..." She replied dejectedly before standing. "But, well, if you ever change your mind, don't hesitate to let me know." She walked off, making sure to put enough sway into her hips.

"Trust me, I won't." Drake muttered, then went back to the screen.

The day of the battle had arrived a lot faster then the team had expected. It seemed like the week had become a blur of training sessions, the four of them doing everything they could to improve themselves. In the end, it was impossible to measure what they had achieved. Stephen had said that they were getting better, but it was hard to quantify.

In truth, there would be only one way to find out.

The hanger bay doors opened, allowing the four Zoids of the Broken chairs to walk out onto the arena. Stephen's Iron Kong was in the middle of the squad, with the Liger Zero and Gunsniper on each side. Tasch's Redler hopped out behind them, waiting for a chance to launch itself into the air.

"Well guys, here we go." Stephen began. "This is it."

On cue, the doors at the other end of the arena opened, Firestorm's four Zoids stepping out into the arena. The Koenig Wolf and Deathraser stood in the middle of their line, with the Arosaurer and Parablade on the outer edges. The four Zoids halted, awaiting the signal to begin.

"Come on..." Rose began, her Zero growling to emphasise the point. "What's taking them so long?"

"Why? Are you in a rush to get beat down?" Neil replied.

"That's not what I meant!" Rose snapped, but was cut off by the monitor drone swooping down over the arena.

"The Broken Chairs versus the Firestorm Team." The electronic voice began as the drone hovered over the middle of the field. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

"You know the plan, guys." Miles began. "Let's do it."

All four Firestorm Zoids sprinted downfield, trying to close the distance as quickly as possible. Krystal's Arosaurer fired its boosters, pulling ahead of the Parablade and taking the lead. The pair of them peeled off to one side, then opened fire on Neil's Gunsniper with their cannons. The two shots from the Parablade narrowly missed the Zoid, however the ones from the Arosaurer hit it, staggering it on its feet.

Regaining its footing, the Gunsniper tried to get out of the way, only to be greeted by another volley of fire. "Hey guys!" He called out as a shot struck the side of the Zoid, knocking it to one side. "I could use a little help here!"

A volley of fire from the Death Raser and Koenig Wolf tore across the arena, momentarily pinning down Stephen and Rose's Zoids. Tasch's Redler, however, leaped into the air, soaring over the other two Zoids, before diving on the Arosaurer, opening fire with its beam cannons. The shots struck the other Zoid, doing some damage, but not enough to deter it.

The Arosaurer and Parablade fired again, their shots knocking Neil's Zoid off its feet. The Gunsniper struggled to get up, but was hit again and knocked down. "Ah... nutbunnies." Neil muttered across their comms channel. "Sorry guys, but I'm out."

"Damn it!" Stephen snapped. "Tasch! See if you can deal with those two, or at least tie them up."

"Okies." The Redler dived again at the Arosaurer, opening fire with its beam cannons on the other Zoid's back. The Arosaurer shook under the impacts, but managed to remain upright. Krystal fired the boosters again, her Zoid leaping out of the Redler's path as it dived down.

"Now you're mine!" Eliot called out, the Parablade opening fire again with its twin cannons. The shots narrowly missed the Redler, which instead dived at his Zoid. Screeching loudly, the Redler swooped on the Parablade, its taloned feet tearing into the side of the smaller Zoid. "Geddof! Geddof!" He screeched.

The Parablade honked loudly in pain, then swiped at the Redler with its own head blade. The Redler evaded the attack by leaping back into the air, a horrible metallic screech accompanying it as it tore away a chunk of one of the Parablade's cannons. The Redler hovered in the air for a moment, then dumped the twisted wreckage. "Well, y'all ain't gonna be using that."

"Damn you! Don't do that!" Eliot shouted angrily, the Parablade honking as if to reinforce his statement. The Zoid reared back its head, then swung it forwards, the large blade on the head detaching and flying at the Redler. Tasch opened up the throttle, her Zoid speeding away from the oncoming blade. The Parablade ran after the Redler, retrieving the blade as it returned.

Abruptly, Tasch spun the Redler around in mid-air, executing a surprisingly tight turn. "Weren't expecting that, huh? Y'all shouldn't throw stuff at people!" She called out as she opened fire, the shots striking the Parablade from head-on. The smaller Zoid stumbled under the impacts, falling forwards and landing on its front. Tasch abruptly stopped the Redler, hovering in mid-air over the other Zoid for a moment. The Parablade twitched for a moment as it tried to rise, then slumped, clearly out of action.

Smiling to herself, Tasch opened up the throttle, heading back to the other members of her team.

"One down." Stephen muttered to himself as he saw the Parablade collapse. "Three to go." He'd been a bit put off by Neil's being eliminated so easily, but was more confident now that the Parablade was out of action. It evened the odds and, more importantly, reduced the amount of stupid tricks thy could pull. He figured that the presence of a Parablade and a Deathraser on the same team was not likely a coincidence.

_Speaking of which..._ The Death Raser barged down the field, hissing and snarling as it went. The Zoid's electron cannon fired, a beam of brilliant blue-white energy streaming out and scoring the armour on the Iron Kong's chest. The Zoid rocked under the impact, but it didn't seem to have done anything more then armour damage. Glancing around, he could see the Koenig Wolf was only a few paces behind it, almost matching pace with it.

"Rose! Pin down the Wolf!" He shouted out. "I'm going to take a shot at the Death Raser!"

"Wha?" She replied, seemingly surprised.

"Now!" He yelled out. The Iron Kong's boosters fired, twisting it around as it ran across the Death Raser's course. _Both of us have weapons that only face forwards, _he thought. _Right, that's a start. _He twisted the Kong around, opening fire with the Hyperbeam cannon and the wrist cannon.

The Deathraser leaped out of the way of the larger cannon, the shot narrowly missing it but tearing a chunk out of the ground instead. Muttering to himself, Stephen adjusted his aim on the wrist cannons, tracking the target more closely. Several of the shots struck the enemy Zoid, but seemed to deflect off it without doing too much damage.

_Damn it. That stuff is good, _he thought to himself. He knew that the Death Raser's armour was designed to deflect away beam weapons, but had no idea just how capable it was. And while the Death Raser was showing signs of being harmed by his attack, it was nowhere near as much as he'd hoped. _Right, new strategy._

Checking on rose, he saw her taking running shots at the Koenig Wolf. Neither of them seemed to have make much headway on the other, but it was a start. _Good, he's occupied for a moment. _The Iron Kong skidded around, then flipped open its shoulder rocket launcher. Stephen figured that the Raser's armour, while good against energy weapons, wouldn't help against missiles.

Before he could fire, a pair of shots blasted the Zoid in the Back. The Kong stumbled forwards, then staggered as another pair hit it. Checking one of the monitors, he could see the Arosaurer behind it. The enemy Zoid must have used its boosters to get there. "Tasch!" he shouted out. "I need some help here!"

"I'm comin!" She called back, her Redler swooping across the field. Stephen fired his boosters, lifting the Iron Kong out of the Arosaurer's way for the moment, and buying him a little more time. To his annoyance, the Arosaurer continued to chase after him while the Death Raser closed in.

The Koenig Wolf opened fire on Rose, its shots narrowly missing the Liger. Before she could strike back, however, it abruptly launched two of the pods worth of missiles, but not at the Liger. The missiles soared into the air, chasing after Tasch's Redler. "Tasch!" He called out. "Behind you!"

"I see 'em!" She shouted back. The Redler abruptly climbed and banked, trying to throw off the missiles. Stephen wanted to see what happened, but a shot passing by him reminded him that he had other things to deal with.

He fired the Kong's maneuver vanes, spinning the Zoid around in place. Sighting the Arosaurer, he opened fire with the wrist cannons, spraying shots at it. Unlike with the Death Raser, the shots had a definite effect on the Arosaurer, tearing into its thick armour and staggering the Zoid. Seeing a chance, he followed through with the Hyperbeam cannon. The shot had a dramatic effect, tearing through the Arosaurer's flank and ripping one arm and leg free from its body. The Arosaurer crashed to the ground, clearly out of action.

Before Stephen could react, however, a metallic screeching noise filled the cockpit. The Kong shook, numerous red lights coming on across the status board. Checking the monitors, he could see why; the Death Raser had attacked him from behind, two if its plasma blades digging into the Iron Kong's back. Checking his systems, he could see that the main thrusters were out of action.

_One chance... _He yanked the Kong's controls, the massive Zoid jutting backwards with one of its elbows. The elbow smacked into Death Raser's hip, sending the Zoid staggering backwards and giving Stephen a chance.

The Iron Kong wheeled around, swinging at the Death Raser with its massive fists. The enemy pilot was ready for him, however, ducking under the attack. The Raser instead slashed at the Kong with its wickedly sharp claws, tearing into its chest armour. No sooner had it attacked then the pilot opened fire with the Electron cannon, the beam tearing through the rents in the Zoid's armour and into the systems inside. The Iron Kong staggered back, then collapsed.

"Not bad..." Miles began as he surveyed his handiwork. "Not bad at all." With the Iron Kong out of action, that left two Zoids on the other team. And while they were also down to two Zoids, there was a substantial qualitative difference. The Death Raser and Koenig Wolf had the Zero and and Redler beat hands down. Heck, as far as he could tell, nothing the Redler could do would even hurt him. Krys and Eliot both being knocked out would cost the team overall points, but it would mean more individual ones for him.

The Redler executed a sharp turn in mid-air, managing to throw off the last of Drake's missiles. He was surprised that the Zoid had survived, but it didn't matter to him. He'd deal with it, one way or another. The Redler opened fire, spraying his Zoid with its beam cannons. As he expected, the shots bounced off the hull with little or no effect.

Smirking, he opened fire with the twin beam guns on the Death Raser's back. The shots passed under the Redler, which abruptly bounced into the air to avoid him. The Death Raser hissed, spiking up the four blades on its back in a form of threat display. If the pilot was dumb enough to come down and try to slice him with her tail blade or claws, he was ready for her.

"Yeah, you can't do anything about me, can you?" He began, smirking. "Better run while you still can, girl."

The Liger Zero's cockpit shook as a round slammed into one of the Zoid's shoulders, Rose clutching at the control stick as she fought to keep the Zoid under control. The Koenig Wolf fired again, Rose managing to swerve the Liger just before they struck home. Opening up the throttle, she saw an opportunity and opened fire with the impact cannons, the shots going wide of the other Zoid.

_This is nuts, _she thought. _I can't get near him to strike. _The Liger ran as the Wolf opened fire again, another pair of rounds narrowly missing her. She sped up, trying to close with him while evading his fire. Of course, the problem was that she knew that the other Zoid had a very good pilot.

_It'd have to be him, wouldn't it? _She asked herself. She'd been hoping to meet Drake and see him in action since she signed up for the tournament. Of course, she wasn't counting on meeting him like this. _Come on, come on... _Another round struck the Zero in the side, sending it sprawling. Fighting with the controls, Rose was able to keep the Zoid upright; that didn't stop it from skidding across the arena however. _He knows that I've got the advantages up close. And he won't let me get there._

"Hey Rose!" Tasch called out over their communicator. "Go get that Death thingy!"

"What?" She replied.

"I'll handle the bad Wolf!" Tasch replied. "I can't scratch the Death Raser, but you might jus' have a chance against it."

_That sounded very... reassuring_, she thought. Still, Tasch's plan made sense. _Wait, Tasch is making sense? _Rose considered this. _We must be desperate. _Slewing the control stick around, the Zero turned and sprinted away from the Koenig Wolf. As she expected, the enemy Zoid turned to follow her. _Come on, Tasch. Do something crazy._

Before the Wolf could attack, it was shot several times in the flank by shots from the Redler's thruster-mounted beam cannons. The Zoid turned to look at its new-found opponent, elevating the sniper rifles and firing at it. The Redler suddenly slewed sideways, flying out of the Wolf's line of fire. Circling around, it fired again, the shots narrowly missing it. But it was enough to give Rose the chance she needed.

The Death Raser turned from the downed Iron Kong, its pilot obviously aware of her presence. Before he could do anything to her, however, she struck first. The Zero's impact cannon fired, the shots hitting the Death Raser in the side. The shot tore into the armour over its hip, clearly damaging the Zoid. _So he can't deflect the impact cannon, huh? _She thought to herself. _Interesting._

The Death Raser's pilot was also clearly surprised by this revelation, seemingly skipping a beat before regaining his composure. It was all she needed, the Liger charging at the other Zoid, then leaping into the air. The Death Raser raised its blades, but to seemingly no avail. The Strike Laser Claw sliced through the Death Raser's blades, severing the two on the right side in a rather spectacular display of crackling energy.

She wasted no time, the Liger leaping away form its opponent before the Death Raser could respond. Faster and more agile then the other Zoid, she swung the Liger around and charged again, just as the Death Raser was turning. The Raser lashed out with it's tail blade, slicing through one of the Liger's forelegs as she charged.

"That's not enough, pal!" She called out as the Liger struck, its claw slicing at the Raser's already damaged side. Capitalizing on the damage she'd already done, the claws tore through the damaged armour across the Death Raser's hip. Already battered by her and Stephen's attacks, the hip armour gave way, exposing the joint below it to the fury of the attack. With a twisting screech, the hip joint tore apart. Rose's Liger leapt away as, behind it, the Death Raser suddenly staggered and then collapsed onto its side.

Ignoring the damage warning on the leg for the moment, Rose charged at the Koenig Wolf. "Only one of you left to go now", she began. "And you're going down hard."

Drake was clearly distracted by Tasch, which gave her a chance. Looking at the displays, she knew that leaping was probably not a good idea; the Death Raser's tail had left one of the font legs badly damaged. And while she could still run on it, she didn't want to think what would happen if the Liger landed on it. Still, she had other options.

Rather then firing the twin impact cannon, she stayed her hand, She didn't want to give away her plan too early; rather she would let Tasch occupy his attention for just a little longer. The Liger ran at the Wolf from behind, the other Zoid clearly not aware of her... or so it seemed.

At the last possible moment, the Koenig Wolf turned towards her. Rose didn't care; she wasn't going to give up this chance. The Liger roared, then lunged at the Wolf, its jaws clamping onto its opponent's neck. The two Zoids crashed to the ground under the force of the impact, Rose trying to drive the Koneig Wolf down and keep it there.

Abruptly, the Koenig Wolf rolled with her, shifting its weight and throwing the Zero away from it. The two Zoids flipped again, the Wolf now rolling onto the Zero while pushing it into the ground. The Liger was forced to release its grip on the Wolf's neck and try to get to its feet.

Unfortunately, that proved to be easier said then done, the Zero's damaged leg shifting under it before the Zoid could completely regain its footing. The Zero stumbled, red lights coming on several systems status boards. "No!" Rose desperately began. "Come on, get up!"

She glanced out the view screen to see the Koenig Wolf lunging at her. The Wolf's claws dig into the Zero's damaged foreleg, further damaging it. Before she could react, the Wolf physically rammed into her Zoid, bearing it to the ground. The liger's systems flickered, then off-lined as the Zoid shut down, the damage too much for it.

"Ah... no! Don't do this to me" Rose called out as the system freeze message came up on the main screen. "Come on... come on!" It was to no avail, the Zero shutting down on her. "Dammit."

Looking up, she could see the blue Koenig Wolf standing over her Zoid... and another one behind it. Tasch's Redler. _She's our last chance to win this, _Rose thought. _Oh hell._

Drake looked down at the Liger, checking over its form. He was pretty sure that it was out of action but, at the same time, he wanted to be certain. He'd seen it happen before, a Zoid playing dead but actually anything but. _She was good, _he thought. _She has skill, but lacks experience... still, that was a lot closer then..._

A blip on his Zoid's sensors caught his attention. There was still one more member of the other team left, the Redler that had given him so much trouble earlier. _So its come down to this. _He'd studied the styles and techniques of the other team closely. While thy all had a lot to offer, the Redler pilot had fascinated him the most. The use of the CP-24 system on the Redler was unusual, and the way she used them was more so.

He wheeled the Koenig Wolf around, thumbing the trigger for one of the launchers. The missiles shot out, heading straight for the Redler. In response, the pilot dramatically shifted the boosters around, the Redler suddenly swerving to one side. The missiles turned to follow it, but the Redler was, to his surprise, turning inside them.

_Fascinating, _he thought. _But it also has a weakness. She can't fire the cannons while she's doing that. At least, not straight ahead. _The Koenig Wolf chased after the Redler as it peeled around, throwing off the last of the missiles. Tracking the Zoid, he opened fire with the twin sniper rifles.

To his surprise, the Redler ducked under his shots, exactly the opposite of what he'd expected. The Zoid skidded to a halt on the arena floor, then burst into a run, charging straight at him. This was a surprise, not the least due to the Redler's rather comical hopping-skipping run.

Never the less, he had a job to do. The Wolf opened fire again, the Redler literally bouncing into the air, firing its boosters as it went. The Redler sped along just above the floor of the arena, more like a Sinker then anything else. _What is she doing? _He asked himself. The enemy Zoid responded by opening fire with its twin cannons, spraying shots wildly at him.

The Wolf instinctively leaped out of the way, the Redler managing to turn with it to follow. As he watched, the Redler's pilot oversteered, the Redler overbanking, then flipping in mid-air. _What? _He asked himself, and then realised what she was doing. _She's can't! She's insane! _The Koenig Wolf broke into a run, but it was too late.

Tasch's Redler, now completely inverted, flew straight at the Koenig Wolf. As it approached, the blade concealed within the Zoid's tail flicked out, just as the Redler passed over the Wolf. There was a metallic tearing sound as the blade sliced through the Zoid's armour, then nothing for a moment.

The Redler flipped over, again skidding to a halt on the far side of the arena. Behind it, the Koenig wolf staggered on its feet. The twin barrels of the Dual Sniper Rifles clattered to the ground, sliced from their mountings. Then, abruptly, the Wolf collapsed, a large gash in the back of its neck from the Liger's teeth and the Redler's blade clearly visible.

"Did I get him?" Tasch asked herself.

A monitor drone flew over the battlefield, stopping over the downed Koenig Wolf. The Drone hovered in silence before finally speaking. "The battle is over!" It announced. "The winner is the Broken Chairs!"

"Yeah! I got him! I got him!"

"You did it, Tasch!" Neil began as he ran over to her. "You managed to beat him! You won us the battle!"

"I did?" Tasch began. "Oh yeah. Well, I guess I did kinda do that." She glanced over at the downed Koenig Wolf.

"You kicked arse." Neil continued. "You did a hell of a lot more then I did."

"Nice work, Tasch." Stephen continued. "Seriously. You did a great job out there today."

"Yeah, you did okay all right." Rose added, then grinned. "That last stunt you pulled with the Koenig Wolf though... that was incredible stuff, really." She continued. "How'd you do that?"

"Well..." Tasch began. "I rolled the Redler as tight as I could. I used the boosters to gimme some extra spin, that's all." She offered. "It was nothin' too special."

"You're modest, cute and say the funniest things." Neil offered. "I'm so in love."

"Me? Nah." She replied, smiling.

"Excuse me." A voice cut the four of them off. Turning as one, they saw Drake standing near the team. "I wanted to offer you my congratulations on your victory today. You all fought very well."

"Us?" Neil replied. "I got jobbed in the first seconds. Its the rest of these guys who deserve the credit."

"I mean it." He continued. "You all worked well together. You all showed a considerable degree of skills as pilots."

"Well, we just did what we needed to win." Stephen replied. "You guys fought just as hard as we did."

"But you were the victors." Drake replied. "You all impressed me today. What you did, attacking my Wolf with a damaged leg like that was very daring of you." he said to Rose. "Very well done."

"Yeep." She managed to squeak out.

"And what you did..." He turned back to Tasch. "That was an incredibly daring piece of flying. How did you think to do that?"

"Well, I jus' did whatever came to mind." Tasch replied. "Nothin' special, really."

"You underestimate yourself. That was quite an incredible performance." He smiled and nodded. "I should go. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I would very much like to battle you again someday. Until then." He nodded, then walked off.

"Well that was real nice of him." Tasch replied.

"Yeah..." Rose finally managed.

"Looks like I'm not the only one in love." Neil added, smirking.

"Wha?" Rose began. "HEY! What do you mean by that?"

"Oh never mind." He replied. "Besides, I doubt he saw you blushing."

Author's notes:

"Sean" was called "Lance" in the previous couple of chapters. That was a mistake on my part; I'd actually mixed his bio with another character's. So if you see any references to a guy called "Lance" in the last few chapters, pretend they say "Sean" instead.

Thanks to Tilly for spell-checking portions of this while I was asploding.


	5. Underground

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Five - Underground

By Rick R.

**oOoOo**

The trio of Zoids stopped at the edge of the bleak, wind swept plateau, looking out over the ocean. They had travelled a long way at great risk to come here, but, looking around, their pilots couldn't see any reason for them to be here. "Well?" The pilot of the largest of them, a Deathsaurer began. "Where the bloody hell are they?"

"They said that they would be here." The pilot of the red Iron Kong replied. "They told me they would be here. They have to be hear... the deal..."

"Damn it." The Deathsaurer pilot snapped. "Its always this bloody deal of yours! You keep bloody well mentioning it, but you never tell me what it is!" The Deathsaurer snarled at the Iron Kong. "I damn well want an explanation, and I want it now!"

"Father! Stoermer!" The Gustav's female pilot began. "Don't-"

"Elena, I-" Stoermer replied, haltingly.

"No, he's right, child." The Iron Kong's pilot began. "He's earned an explanation, if only for his loyalty to me and my family so far, and al we've been through."

"Go on."

"I made a deal with the devil." He began. "In order to save my empire and destroy the Republic."

"The devil?" Elena asked. "Father, what have you done?"

"You didn't." Stoermer began. "No, not with them. You made a deal with g- NO!"

Before he could finish his sentence, an invisible force smashed into the Deathsaurer, sending it reeling. The Deathsaurer crashed to the ground on its back, then was lifted into the air, as if by a giant unseen hand. The Zoid began to slowly fold, its tail bending around to its front while its head bent forwards. The body bent in the middle and then snapped, the Deathsaurer howling in pain for an instant before it was crashed into a ball, then crashed to the ground.

"Stoermer!" Elena called out. She opened the cockpit of the Gustav, running towards the ruined Deathsaurer.

"No!" the Iron Kong's pilot shouted. "This wasn't a part of the deal!" The Kong's reply was a blow to the chest by the same unseen force, sending it reeling. The Zoid crashed on its back on the edge of the cliff, before another blow sent it crashing into the ocean below. The Iron Kong vanished beneath the waves, one if its arms holding up for a moment before disappearing.

"Father!" Elena canned out. "Father, no!"

There was a crunching sound behind her, followed by the footfalls of a Zoid. Turning around, Elena could see a sinister black Zoid looming over her. Its form resembled the Deathsaurer's, but it was about half as tall. A pair of cannons were mounted on its back, while an array of tubes sprouted from the back of its neck. While its body was dull, its eyes and chest both projected an eerie green colour. "Who... who are you?"

Stoermer crawled from the wreckage of the Deathsaurer, desperately searching around. "Zenebas?" He asked, then saw the sinister black Zoid. "Elena! No!"

Elena was standing in front of the Zoid, but was being held by another man. He was dressed in a black cloak that concealed his entire body, save for his head and one hand. He had long black hair, while his cloak was adorned with gold shoulder pads that sported an unfamiliar dragon shield logo.

"I am the Guylos Emperor." He began in an eerie, sinister voice. "You have a choice, Stoermer. If you want her to live, then you will join me and help me destroy the Republic."

**oOoOo**

Once the closing credits started, the four members of the Broken chairs stood up and walked out of the cinema. "So guys, what'd you think?" Rose began. They'd decided to go for a night out together after an easy win in the latest round. She'd picked this film because, while it was meant to be a historical love story, she knew that there'd be enough Zoids and stuff to keep Stephen and Neil happy.

"Well..." Stephen began. "Being brutally honest, it was a pile of overly-drawn out sap that made me want to either puke my guts out or scream in agony."

"Harsh." Neil commented.

"So less sap and more Zoids." He added. "I can't stand chick flicks, really."

"Yeah, but you have to admit that when there was stuff blowing up, it was pretty cool." Neil commented.

"True." Stephen admitted. "There was some great fight scene in there. I just wish there had been more of it and less of people staring longingly at each other."

"And they needed a Twinhorn or two." Tasch commented. "'cause the Zenebas Emporer's bodyguards piloted Twinhorns."

"Major lack of Twinhorns is a severe mark against it." Neil added, waving a finger in the air. "And that film needed Twinhorns but bad."

"...well, yes." Rose admitted. "But it wasn't that bad, was it?" She sounded hopeful. She'd rather liked the film herself, but hadn't quite expected the response she was getting from Stephen. "I mean, it wasn't that awful, huh?"

"Naw, it was cool." Tasch replied.

"Oh really?" Rose asked, wondering if she was desperate of she was looking to Tasch for support. "What was it oyu liked aobut it."

"Well..." She began. "The Deadborder was really well done, given that it can't have been a real one and was some sorta computer model or somehtin' like that. In fact, it looked kinda cute, actually. Oh, and the way they did the gravity cannons in that scene was also real good."

Rose paused. "Tasch, that was the very end of the movie."

"Well, yeah." She replied. "But it was the bit I liked."

"Um..." Rose was lost.

"Oh, outwitted." Neil began. "Nice score there, Tasch."

"Yeah!" Tasch replied excitedly. "Wait, what'd I do?"

They stepped out of the cinema onto the street. It was already rather late, and it looked like it was going to rain. "And you, Stephen, you smacked that film around like you did yesterday's opponents." Neil continued.

"And what in the heck was with that team?" Tasch asked, suddenly steering the topic hopelessly off course. "'cause they seemed kinda silly."

"A Leoblaze, a Missile Tortoise and a Gustav with a few stray guns strapped onto it is hardly an effective team, no." Stephen continued. "It makes me wonder how they had gotten this far."

"Dumb luck?" Neil asked. "Even dumber opponents? Who knows some days."

"Well whatever it was, it didn't do them any good in our battle." He snorted.

"You know, some people would feel bad about ripping apart a team in such a hopelessly one-sided battle." Neil continued. "But not you."

"All's fair in love, war and team sports." Stephen replied.

"And film reviews too." Tasch added. "I mean, you said what you thought there, no doubt."

"Yeah, well..." Rose began. She was having a bit of a sulk after the rest of the team's comments on the film. "I'm going out for a drink, possibly find a club. Any of you guys wanna come?"

"I'm okay." Tasch replied. "Bit tired, actually."

"I'm not much for clubs." Neil added. "'sides, it looks like rain."

"And that dance stuff gives me headaches." Stephen finished. "But thanks for the offer."

"Right..." She replied, a little disappointed. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." She turned and walked away form the rest of the team.

Leaving the theatre behind, she headed a few streets over. There was a pub nearby that she knew was good, being one of the favoured hangouts of other Zoid pilots. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was becoming rather familiar with their specific social scene and, more to the point, enjoying it. True, people like the other members of her team may act like jerks at times (like when watching some types of movie), but at the same time, there was always something to talk about.

She remembered how as a kid she' had been fascinated by her father's stories of his days as a Zoid pilot in the arenas. He'd regaled them with tales of his battles, his exploits and his victories. And when Violet had become a Zoid warrior as well, she'd been hanging off her every word when she called or wrote home.

She stepped into the pub, making her way over to the bar. It was pretty quiet tonight, as she expected. The nights immediately after the tournament battles were the ones to watch, where people would be celebrating victories and discussing the day's matches. Still, being hare was better then going home to a leaky base, she figured. Finding a seat, she ordered a Saradin Brew, an expensive import beer from Europa and took a swig. _Now to see what happens. _Looking around, she spied the TV on the wall. Right now, it was playing highlights from several of the previous says matches.

A heated argument from nearby caught her attention. Turning around, she could see a blonde woman arguing with the bartender. The girl was son the short side, but very fit and, she noticed, rather generously endowed. She was dressing to show off, with a halter top with a cut-out over her breasts and low cut jeans. Rose recognised her, but was trying to place her. "There, are you satisfied?" The girl hissed as she put a card down on the bar.

The barman picked it up and squinted at it. "Right." He muttered, then handed it back to her. "I'll believe ya, kid." He filled a glass and passed it to her.

"Idiot." She muttered, then turned to Rose. "He thought I was underaged, would you believe it?"

_Your face says fifteen, but your boobs say otherwise, _Rose wanted to reply. _Those are so fake. _"It happens form time to time. Used to happen to me a lot." _When I was your age._

"I was hoping that he'd recognise me." She snapped. "I'm sick of this happening."

Rose tried to figure who she was, and then it clicked. "You're..." she began. "You're Ariel, that girl from the Black Hands team."

"I was in the Black Hands team." She snapped back. "I left them. They were a group of fools and amateurs who couldn't handle themselves in a real battle."

Rose wanted to say something back to her about this. True, Ariel had easily been the most dangerous member of the Black Hands, but her performance hadn't exactly been inspiring so far. She had very little tactical sense, focusing too much on one opponent. She remembered the girl's little hissy fit after Rose had taken her out while she was fighting Stephen. _Probably best if I keep my mouth shut, _she figured. "So what, are you back in the singles circuit?"

"No." She shook her head. "I've been pursuing... other things, really." She began. "The singles circuit lost its interest for me a long time ago."

"I hear ya." A man said, parking himself on the seat on the other side of Ariel. "Singles is a total waste." He sighed. "Hey, gimme a straight scotch on the rocks!"

Rose eyed the man, seeing if she could place him. He was of above average height with a muscular build, and sported a shaved head (but lots of stubble) and a small beard on his chin. He was dressed in pretty typical street clothes; jeans, shirt and a jacket. "So not having much luck mister..."

"Hardford." He replied as he took a sip form the drink. "Brock Hardford."

"I'm Ariel Mychelle." She began.

"Rose O'Bannon." Rose added. Ariel glanced at her for a moment. _Oh-oh._

"Aren't you one of the Broken Chairs?" Ariel asked, glaring at Rose.

"Well, yeah." She admitted. "We've crossed paths a couple of times, I guess."

"We did." Ariel replied. "I must admit, you proved to be very capable in our battles."

There was no indication of the seething anger that had been flowing through her when she had confronted Rose after their last battle. _Maybe she has decided to forgive and forget. And she can hardly blame me for tactical thinking, can she? _But then Rose remembered which team she had been with and who lead them. _Or not._

"Lucky you." Brock replied. "I've been having no luck with the damned competition so far. It's just been one huge pile of crap."

"Really?" Ariel asked. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno..." He explained "I feel like they're holding me back. Like I can't do everything I want to do, you know?"

"I know that feeling." Ariel replied to him. "My team were dead weights. They were holding me down, drawing me down to their level. They were weak and foolish, and made me look bad. I should have never signed on with them."

"So why did you?" Rose interjected, suddenly curious. If Ariel had assessed them as such losers now, then she would have had to have some very good reason to join them initially.

"I thought that joining a team would be good for me." She explained. "I thought that I would be getting a better deal out of it then I had at the moment. And what Slash offered me seemed good at the time." She continued. "He offered me a challenge, the opportunity to fight in what was supposedly a tougher competition against better opponents, while working alongside a group of skilled pilots. But in the end, it turned out that all he did was throw more barriers in my way."

"I know what you mean." Brock continued. "It seems like there's always something there that's holding me back or tying me down, not allowing me to achieve what I want. I want to kick arse and take names, but... there's something there."

_Probably your lack of skill or your crappy Zoid, _Rose thought. Instead she just sipped her beer. "So then, what are you doing now?" She asked, suddenly curious. She couldn't see the girl going back to anything but Zoid battling. Something about the way she carried on reminded Rose of the enthusiasm she'd had for Zoid battling when she was younger. In many ways, Ariel was like she had been, only smacked in the face with a very hard dose of reality. _And having a sulk about it too._

"Well, funny you should say that." She explained. "I have a proposition for you two. Something you might be interested." She turned back to Brock. "You want to make yourself better, right? You want to be without limits, right?"

"Damn straight." He finished his drink. "I want to be number one without any crap to hold me back."

She turned back to Rose. "And you want to be a better pilot, I'm sure. You're very skilled, but I think you could be better. Someone like you could go a very long way."

"Yeah, and?" She asked.

"Follow me if you're interested." She finished as she stood and walked out of the bar.

"So what do you think?" Rose asked.

"I think that is a piece of very fine arse." Brock replied as she stepped outside. "And that it'd be a shame to get away. And then..." He leered. "I wanna know what she was on about."

"Likewise." Rose replied, strangely curious. She hopped down from her barstool, following the young woman, Brock just behind her.

**oOoOo**

A figure sitting on one of the corner booths watched the girl leave, followed by the other two. _Well, this should be amusing, _they thought to themselves. _Very interesting indeed. Lets see what happens here..._

The figure finished their drink then stood, leaving the bar behind.

**oOoOo**

"Where'd she go to?" Rose asked as she stepped out of the bar. The rain was coming down in spits and bits, but nothing too severe at the moment. Certainly not bad enough to bother Rose; at least, not yet.

"Damn it!" Brock swore. "What the hell is this crap? Fist she leads us on then she runs away?"

"Sorry about that." Ariel's voice began, amplified by a PA system. A grey and purple Genosaurer stepped around the corner, looming over the pair of them. Rose could instantly recognise it as being the same, rather distinctive looking one that she'd been piloting in the arena. "But I had to get my transport ready."

"So what the hell is this offer you had for us?" Brock snapped. "Damn it, I want to know what it is!"

"Follow me and you'll find out." Ariel said. "If you're brave enough." The Genosaurer turned away, then broke into a run, the Zoid taking massive strides down the street.

"The hell?" Rose began. "Brock, do you have a Zoid?"

"Yeah, its parked nearby. You?"

"Same." She stated. Glancing up, she could see that the Genosaurer had stopped at the end of the street. "Gimme a minute to get it."

"Sure." He replied with a growl. "I wanna know what this is all about."

Rose sprinted several blocks over to a Zoid parking lot near the cinema. She'd taken the Zero out tonight rather then rely on public transport, simply because she figured that she'd be coming back late. "Well looks like I might be a little later then I thought." She muttered to herself as she climbed into the Zero's cockpit and powered on the Zoid. The Zoid's display's came to life, the Zero roaring as it powered on. "Okay, let's go."

The Zoid sprinted out of the hanger, heading back towards the intersection where the Genosaurer had been waiting. Sure enough, the Zoid was still there. As soon as it saw her coming, the Genosaurer turned away from her and broke into another run, heading away from her. _So you want a chase, huh? _She asked herself, then grinned. _Looks like this is gonna be a fun night after all._

As the Zero took on off after the Genosaurer, her sensors beeped to indicate another Zoid closing in on her from behind. Checking the monitor, she could see a Gravity Saurer charging towards her, barrelling down the street in its bizarre, hopping run. "Hey Rose!" A voice called out over the communicator. Glancing at the screen, she could see that it was Brock. "Where is that madwoman?"

"She took off as soon as she saw me coming!" Rose called back. "She wants us to follow her, though. She waited for me here."

"Great." He replied. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm gonna follow her all the way. I want to know what all this BS is about. Try to keep up with me." The Gravity Saurer accelerated, dramatically closing the distance to the Zero.

"Keep up?" Rose asked with a grin. "I'll try not to leave you behind!"

The Genosaurer stormed up an onramp onto the cross-town expressway. The Zoid dropped into a designated Zoid lane, opening up its throttle all the way as it went. The Zoids speed increased, momentarily pulling away from the other two.

_Good thing the lanes are largely clear at this time of night. _Rose thought. "Come on, Zero. Let's get her!" The Liger roared, then sprinted up the freeway after the Genosaurer. She decided not to open the boosters for now; instead wanting to see where the other Zoid was going. _She's not just running for the sake of letting us chase her. There has to be something going on here._

The Gravity Saurer hopped along behind her, the Zoid keeping pace with her Zero but not catching it. "You seemed to know her better." Brock began. "Where do you think she's going?"

"No idea, mate." She replied. "I don't know her that well."

The three of them continued on their way, charging across the city. Rose was watching her map to try and figure just where they were going; as far as she could tell, they were heading towards the Eastern side of the city. That area had previously been a low-rise, light commerce section, but had boomed in the last few years with a huge expansion in high-rise development.

The Genosaurer swerved off the highway, dropping down a ramp and charging through the streets. Rose steered the liger after it, followed by Brock's Gravity Saurer. Watching the Genosaurer, she figured that its pilot knew exactly where they were going now and, more to the point, their destination wasn't too far away. She swerved onto a side street, then continued running, the other two remaining behind her.

Ahead, a single structure loomed up in front of them. It was little more then a mass of concrete surrounded by rusted scaffolding, in the middle of a large hole in the ground. Rose had read about the place; it was called Zi Square and had been planned as some sort of ultimate shopping and high-ruse residential district. Instead, the company had gone bankrupt under very dubious circumstances, and it had been lying abandoned for years.

_So what's going on here? _Rose asked herself. "Hey, Brock, you got any idea why she's going here?"

"None at all."

"Great." Rose replied, watching the Genosaurer. The Zoid ran towards the site, approaching a pair of large metal gates that blocked what had been an entrance for construction machinery. To Rose's surprise, the gates swung open, admitting the Zoid. Seeing no other option, she followed it in. The Genosaurer descended into an underground passage, heading into the bowels of the completed portion of the building.

_What the hell is down here? _Rose asked herself. The Liger leaped out of the tunnel, then skidded to a halt as its pilot realised what they had found. They were in the middle of a wide circular area, underneath site in what probably was intended to be a car park. Looking around, Rose could see several booths ringing the circular area, that people could look down from. The Genosaurer waited at the other end, staring at the entrance. "This..." She began as realisation washed over her. "This is an NUBG arena, isn't it?"

The Gravity Saurer charged in, then stopped next to the Liger. "What the hell is going on here?" Brock asked. "What is this place?"

"She's right." Ariel began. "This arena is one used by the NUBG and its warriors. Its what I wanted to show you."

"This is it?" Rose snapped, anger welling up inside her. All of a sudden, she felt used and betrayed, and angry at herself for being fooled by this stupid girl's pitch. "This is what you wanted to show us?"

"Yes it is." She replied. "I heard what you two had to say, and felt you would be interested in it. I want you two to join me in the NUBG. Fight me to prove what you're capable of."

"Sounds tempting..." Brock began.

"The NUBG?" Rose asked. "You have to be kidding me! Why would I want to join a bunch of criminals, dropouts, rejects and losers like them?"

The Genosaurer snarled at the Liger. "We're not criminals!" Ariel wailed. "That's a vicious lie spread by the ZBC! The NUBG allows warriors to reach their full potential by not holding them back with stupid rules! it gives them more of a challenge, allowing them to expand their abilities!"

"Yeah, those rules are only their to stop people form getting killed!" Rose snapped. "Damn it, why didn't you tell me what you were doing when you lead me here?"

"Because..." Ariel began, then stopped.

"Because you knew I wouldn't come if I did." Rose shouted back. "I'm leaving this place. You lied to bring me here, so the least you can do is let me go free. Otherwise you'll just prove that you're the criminals I said you were."

"Fine, then. Go." Ariel replied, angrily. "But I will ask that you don't tell anyone about this place."

"Sure." Rose finished. "You have my word." The liger turned around, then paused, Looking at the Gravity Saurer. "You coming? She asked. You know that she'll have already rigged the fight, and your Zoid isn't exactly a match for hers."

"Just go!" Ariel shouted at her. "Before I change my mind!"

"Don't worry about me." Brock replied. "This is just the challenge I've been looking for."

"Fine." Rose finished, the Liger bounding up the ramp and out of the arena. It was only after she was out of the grounds and safely away from the building that Rose allowed herself to breathe.

"Oh hell." She muttered. "Oh bloody hell. What have I gotten myself into?" She glanced over the controls, as if the Liger could offer her an answer. "I've got to go!" She opened up the Liger's throttle and activated the boosters, the Zoid sprinting away from the arena. She knew that she would be in danger after what had just happened, and that there was only one place she could go.

**oOoOo**

Brock's Gravity Saurer watched as the Liger sprinted up the exit ramp. Once it was gone, a pair of steel doors closed over the ramp. _No way out now, _he thought. _Doesn't matter. This is what I really want._

He'd liked Ariel's pitch, and liked what she'd had to say to him. He'd heard of the NUBG, and liked what he'd heard about them. What they offered, the chance to battle without rules and restrictions appealed to him. It was, after all, what he wanted, and the main reason he figured that he was loosing out in the singles competition. "So, you ready to go?" He asked her.

"I won't hold back like a ZBC pilot would." Ariel replied. "You could be hurt or even killed."

"And I won't for you, girl." He sneered. He knew that his Zoid was outclassed by hers, but, at the same time, he figured that he would be able to give her a few surprises.

"Understand this." She continued. "Win or loose, you will have a place in the NUBG after this. Your courage and commitment has impressed me enough already."

"Yeah, but I figure that its best if I give a good show. After all, I do want to impress the Powers that Be." The Gravity Saurer squatted in place by the door, a loud humming noise emanating from its body. As it stood, the Gravity Wheel built into the Zoid's body began to glow blue, as the air around the Zoid began to ripple and distort. "Bring it on."

The Genosaurer lunged forwards, opening fire with its twin back cannons. To Ariel's surprise, the Gravity Saurer literally leapt straight up into the air over the shots. In mid air, the Gravity Saurer launched its twin Panzerfausts, the rockets flying at the Genosaurer.

The larger Zoid charged forwards at its opponents. One of the rockets slammed into its side, rocking it but not doing too much damage, the other narrowly missing it. Ariel didn't waste any time, opening fire again on the Gravity Saurer with the main cannons.

This time the shots strick home, sending the smaller Zoid sprawling backwards, a huge rent torn in its armour. The Gravity Saurer flipped over, quickly regaining its footing before breaking into a run. The oddly-shaped Zoid twisted around the Genosaurer, then ran at its flank, opening fire with its back-mounted weaponry. The shots tore into the Genosaurer's flank, tearing up the armour already damaged by the Panzerfaust.

"Bet you're not expecting this!" Brock called out. The Gravity Saurer again leaped into the air, slamming one of its clawed feet into the Genosaurer's side. This staggered the larger machine for a moment, but wasn't enough to knock it over. "Oh hell."

The Genosaurer swung around, smashing the Gravity Saurer's side with its heavy tail. The force of the blow sent the Gravity Saurer Reeling, but it managed to recover again. Seeing a chance, Ariel launched at it, swiping at the other Zoid with the Genosaurer's heavily armoured claws. The claws smashed into the Gravity Saurer's side, knocking the smaller Zoid down. Before it could recover, the Saurer smashed it again, knocking it aside.

"You fought well." Ariel began. "Welcome to the-"

She never got to finish her sentence, her message dissolving into static. Something struck the Genosaurer, sending blue and white electricity coursing across its body. The Genosaurer swayed on its feet, then drunkenly collapsed onto its side.

"What the hell?" Brock looked around worriedly as his Gravity Sauruer regained its own footing. Glancing to the far end of the arena, he saw the source of the attack. A pair of Zoids, a biped like the Genosaurer and a cat-like liger were walking towards him, having entered through a far door. He instantly recognised them as being a Dark Spiner and a Liger Zero X. He figured that the Spiner was the source of the attack that had taken out Ariel. He also figured that he was in big trouble.

"Well, well, well." The pilot of the Zero X began. "What the hell do we have here?"

"Looks like Ariel dragged something in." The Spiner replied, looking over at the Gravity Saurer. "Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing in this arena?"

He figured that being honest was his best bet. "My name's Brock Hardford." He began. "I was invited here by Ariel Mychelle. She was offering me a place with the NUBG, and said this was a try out battle."

"She did what?" The Spiner's pilot began. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Crap. First week back with us, and she's made a complete arse of herself." The Zero X snarled at the downed Genosaurer. "Draggin' people in off the street? What are you gonna do next, go around declarin' yourself to be a NUBG pilot in public?" The Zero snarled at the downed Genosaurer. "You think you're hot crap, don't ya? Well guess what, girl? You're just crap."

"Look, I had no idea what she was doing." Brock continued. "She didn't say what she was doing until she bough us in here." he shook his head. "I assumed that this was some sorta NUBG recruiting drive, but only once I got inside. You gotta believe me, I do want to be a member of the NUBG. Really."

"Well..." The Dark Spiner's pilot began. "You're in through the front door, and you've already seen a lot. So I figure that you're in." The large green Zoid glared straight at the Gravity Saurer. "But remember the first rule of NUBG. Cross us, and you die."

He nodded. "I expected as much. But then, I don't mind the risks. Life's too dull otherwise."

"Good thinking there. You'll fit in nicely." The Spiner's pilot continued.

"Hang on." The Zero X's pilot spoke up. "He said 'us'." The Zoid turned to the Gravity Saurer. "Who's 'us'?"

"There was another pilot who came in with us." Brock stated. "She was in a Liger Zero, but didn't want to join, so Ariel let her go."

"Ah, hell!" The Zero X pilot shouted. "God damn it! What the hell have you done you stupid, stupid cow?"

"I..." Ariel began, weakly. "I made her promise that she wouldn't tell anyone!" she suddenly began.

"Bloody hell!" He continued. "And you believed her? You are so damned stupid!"

"But-"

"That's it! Get out of that damned Zoid now! I'm gonna rip your head off!"

"Julian, that's enough." The Spiner pilot spoke up. "We'll have to assume that she's long gone; no way we're catching a Zero now. And we'll have to assume that she's going to the ZBC or the PKB or both." His Zoid looked around the arena. "Great. We're gonna have to abandon the place. Everyone, get ready to go! Take everything, and I mean everything!"

"What about me?" Brock asked as the Spiner turned back to the far door.

"You want to be in with the NUBG, kid?" He asked. "Here's your first test. Stick with me and do everything I tell you to. And if we're lucky, there'll be an NUBG for you to join afterwards."

**oOoOo**

The headquarters of the Peace Keeping Bureau was one of the largest and most distinctive buildings on the city's skyline. It dominated the view, competing only with the nearby ZBC Headquarters for attention. It made it very easy to find, even late on a dull, overcast night.

Rose's Liger Zero pulled up out the front of the PKB's headquarters, rain pelting down on its back. The canopy opened, its pilot vaulting out as fast as she could go. She sprinted up the steps, not caring that she was getting soaked through in the process, before stepping inside the door into the silent office.

She'd figured that it wouldn't be completely shut down, as the PKB had to be in operation twenty-four hours a day. She smiled as she saw the font desk, which was manned by a very bored looking receptionist. _Thank gord for that, _she thought as she approached the desk, trailing water behind her. "Excuse me." She began, nervously looking around, then glancing outside at the parked Liger. She figured that it probably was illegally parked, but she also didn't care.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist began, noting that she was dripping on the desk.

"Yes." Rose replied. "This is a very important matter. I need to speak to someone urgently."

"Can I ask what this is about?" She began as she picked up a phone.

"I've been threatened by the NUBG." She explained. "And I know where one of their secret arenas is."

**oOoOo**

It had continued to rain all night and then into the morning, continuing in what the weathermen were calling an 'unseasonable torrential downpour'. The inhabitants of the Broken Chairs' base were happy to call it any number of other things right now. In addition to being relatively cold and dark, they'd also discovered just how many leaks the roof of the reconditioned factory had. It had lead to a night of interrupted sleep and a lot of dripping noises.

"Mornin' all." Tasch began as she stepped into the team's kitchen. "Nice looking day, ain't it?"

Stephen looked up from the morning news which he was watching while eating his breakfast, glaring at her. "Is this one of those Nyxian things or are you being funny?"

"Well..." She glanced out the window. "It is a might damp, I guess."

He shook his head. "You people..."

"Wha?" She asked. "Hey, morning Neil."

"Greetings!" He beamed as he stepped into the room. "Lovely day we're having today."

"See?" Tasch turned back to Stephen. "He agrees."

"And that's what I like about you, Tasch." Neil commented. "Your offbeat sense of humour."

"You're remarkably cheery this morning." Stephen began. "Sleep well?"

"Hells no." He began as he walked over to the cupboard, fossicking through it to see what was in there. "I was planning to call the estate agent at a later stage and complain about the leaks in my roof."

"What's up with them?" Tasch asked.

He stood up, a cereal box in hand. "There's a roof there which blocks some of them off. I'm sure they could have installed some more."

Stephen couldn't help smirk at that. His room had been leak free, but there had been one outside in the hallway that had managed to become very loud. "How about you, Tasch. Any leaks in your room?"

"Just one." She said. "But I put a bucket under it, so that was all good."

"Hey! That was my bucket!" Neil snapped.

"Serves you right for all those chips you've stolen." Stephen replied with a grin. "Anyone seen Rose yet this morning?"

"Not yet." Neil began. "I figured that she'd be up to bitch at us about something leaking."

"Well I figure she ain't in yet." Tasch said. "'cause her Zoid ain't in the hanger."

Stephen and Neil looked at her. "Well that's weird." Stephen began.

"Maybe she's at some sort of all-night dance part that's still going." Neil offered. "Or she met some cute guy and is with him..." Stephen glared at him. "What? I'm just saying, that's all."

"Nice of her to let us know." He muttered.

"Hell, by the time she got going, we were probably all asleep." Neil replied. "And I know that you'd have loved to be woken up by a late-night phone call."

"I wonder if she was involved with that stuff?" Tasch perked up.

"What stuff?" Neil asked.

"On the TV." She explained. "There's sonmethin' going on with the PKB."

They both looked at it. The screen was showing a live telecast form a news helicopter, with a number of PKB Zoids surrounding what appeared to be a construction site, including the chief's Gojulas Giga. "Hang on..." Stephen began, turning up the volume on the TV.

"...the PKB have so far not commented on the deployment of their forces." The voice began over the sound of the news helicopter. "However, the information we have suggests that this is some sort of NUBG arena. So far, however, we've seen no sign of activity from anyone inside." As the camera panned over, a Gorheks and Arosaurer walked out from a gate in the base of the structure. "Hang on, two of the PKB Zoids are emerging now. Hopefully, we'll have a statement from the PKB soon."

It was at that point that the phone rang. "I'll get it." Neil began as he leaped up. "Beats watching the telly any day." He grabbed the phone and picked it up. "Hello, Broken Chairs house of leaks. Neil speaking."

"Neil?" He instantly recognised the voice on the other end of the line. "It's Rose here."

"Rose?" He asked. "You okay there? You sound a little shakey."

"I'm fine, really." She said. "Its just nerves. I... I got into a bot of trouble and I'm at the PKB's headquarters right now. I've been there all night, actually."

"You okay?" He asked. "What happened?"

"I inadvertently got lured into a NUBG arena." She sheepishly admitted. "I didn't mean to, but..."

"That's not the same supposed NUBG arena that's on the news right now?" He asked. "About a Zillion PKB Zoids around it, all ready to reduce it to rubble?"

"That's it, yeah." She admitted. "I'm not in any trouble, Neil. I'm helping them with enquiries right now. They got the ROMs from the Liger's recorder for evidence, so they're going over what I saw last night. I think I've just dealt a major blow to the NUBG."

"Anything we can do?" Neil asked.

Rose sighed. "Look, if it's not too much of a bother, could one of you come down here?" She asked. "I'd just like some support and, uh, a little help. And someone to walk me home, so to speak."

"Your Zoid there?" He asked.

"Yeah. They've got him parked out the back."

"Sure thing." Neil finished. "I'll get down there, or someone else will eventually."

"Thanks Neil."

"Not a problem." He replied. "I'm a friend. That's what we do."

"That and steal chips." She giggled.

"But of course." He smiled. "Keep smiling, kid. We'll be there soon."

"Thanks." She finished, and hung up.

Neil put down the phone and turned back to the others. "That was Rose." He began. "Of all the places she could be, she's at the PKB HQ."

"What's she doing there?" Stephen asked.

"Callin' us." Tasch replied.

Neil was going to make a joke, but figured that Tasch had gotten the better of him. "She got into a bitt of trouble with the NUBG, but is okay now. She's been helping with the enquiries, hence the little show this morning." He indicated to the TV, where PKB commander Mal Loup was giving a statement. "She's asked if one of us could come down to lend her some moral support and the like, so I figured that I'd go."

"Sure thing." Stephen replied. "And let use know how it all goes, okay?"

"Poor girl." Tasch commented. "Y'know what? We should do somethin' for her... like, uh, maybe cook her a dinner or something."

"Soudns like a plan to me." Neil replied. "I mean we've been thriving off microwave and takeaway of late, so some change would be nice." He shrugged. "Not that I can help, I must admit. I can barely cook toast. I love off the bachelor diet."

"Well I can cook." Tasch began. "I did two units of Home Economics in high school."

"Cool beans." Neil replied.

"Um, I can too." Stephen added.

"You?" Neil asked, warily. "Isn't cooking and cleaning and stuff a bit too SNAG-ish for you?"

Stephen fidgeted with the remote for a moment, then sighed. "I, uh, took a cookery class as part of an anger management course, okay?" He glared at Neil. "I can cook stuff, okay?"

"Whoah, okay, No need to rip my head off about it." He replied defensively. "Just asking."

"Well..." Tasch turned to Stephen. "You wanna go out and get some stuff for tonight? We can figure out what we want to make, then get sonme stuff, come back here an' cook it all up. And while we're doin' that, Neil can go down to the PKB for Rose."

"That is a brilliant suggestion, Tasch." Neil replied. "Couldn't have thought of a better one myself."

"Well, its just a thought."

"And a great one." He finished as he stood. "So, guys, I'll head off. You to get to work... and surprise me."

**oOoOo**

Unlike the rather stark and bland arena under the Zi Square hole, the NUBG's primary urban arena had been considerably 'dressed up'. Even though there was no live audience, the sides of the arena had been lined with barbed wire fences, metal spikes and the odd piece of rusting in order to give it an "industrial wasteland" look. A lot of the stuff had been dragged in from several nearby abandoned factories, as well as the equipment cleared out to make this one. Like the Zi Square arena, there were several booths form which paying guests - and camera crews - could watch the battles live.

Ron McGonnagle walked into one of the booths, a special one that he knew was reserved for a member of staff. It was rare that he came here; he knew that the risks of being caught massively outweighed the few benefits that came from a face to face meeting. But this was a very, very special circumstance, and he understood what needed to be done here.

"How are you doing, Ron?" The man sitting next to him asked. Ron glanced at him for a moment. He was of average height but considerably overweight. He had long brown hair worn in a ponytail and a scruffy beard that went well with his small eyes. At the moment he was wearing a t-shirt, jeans a disgusting flannel jacket and a baseball cap that served only to cover his considerable bald spot. In many ways, Ron couldn't stand him. But at the same time, he and this man had a very lucrative relationship.

"Not bad, Michael." He replied. "And you?"

"Craptacular." Michael Heywood snorted derisively. Despite his appearance, he was the leader of the NUBG, thus making him one of the most influential people in the world of Zoids battles. Not only was he their leader, but he was the creator of NUBG. As far as he was concerned, he was NUBG. "Completely craptacular."

"I'm sorry about the arena, Michael." Ron began. "Trust me, there was nothing I could do."

A pair of Zoids entered from each end of the arena, a Spinosapper and a Lord Gale. "Ron, I don't mind saying that loosing that arena has screwed me six ways to Sunday." He explained. "Besides the obvious immediate fact that I've lost my second biggest venue - and the only other one that's within the city's limits - I had an event booked in there for tonight. Now not only do I have to tell my backers that tonight's event is a no go, I'm going to have to double up this arena just to get all the matches I need done for the tapes. And that's playing merry hell with my life."

"Sorry to hear it, Michael." Ron replied. He liked it if Michael was having a bad time, because it usually meant that there would be something for him to do, which in turn meant that there would be more money in his pockets. "Not much I can do about it now. The damage has been done."

"That stupid cow." He muttered. "Why did I ever let her back in?"

_Because she looks like she's fifteen, has massive fake breasts and dresses like a cheap tart, _Ron thought. "You thought she'd be good for you. She was popular during her first run with you guys." He said instead. "And you couldn't have expected her to do something like this." He watched the fight taking place below; despite being unable to fly in the enclosed arena, the Lord Gale was doing rather well.

"Yeah..." He snorted. "Anyways, I need something from you." He continued.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"That little cow who ratted on us." Michael continued. "I want to send her a message. I wanna show her what happens to people who screw with NUBG."

"That's not going to be easy." He replied. "She's at PKB headquarters now."

"Yeah, but she's going to leave eventually." Michael explained. "And when she does, I'm going to get two of my boys to teach her a lesson."

"Two of them?" He asked. Looking to either side, he could see a pair of men in the room with them. The first was tall, with short brown hair, brown eyes and a fair amount of stubble, and wore a white shirt, combat pants and a bomber jacket. The second man was taller and more muscular, sporting a shaved head and a goatee beard; he was dressed in a black coat and sported sunglasses.

"You know Shane and Julian." Michael continued. "They'll take care of things from here. All I need you to do is tell us when she leaves the PKB offices, and we'll take care of the rest."

Ron thought about this for a moment. "You do know that she's the younger sister of a ZBC champ and the daughter of another one."

"That's just gonna make it more amusing." The shaved-headed man replied, grinning. Below, the Lord Gale slid its X-Claws around the neck of the Spinosapper. Not giving the other pilot a chance, the Lord Gale snapped the claws together, neatly decapitating the other Zoid.

**oOoOo**

Stephen managed to manhandle the shopping trolley around the end of the aisle, despite all its efforts to defy him. This one had proven difficult to control when it was empty, and was proving to be impossible to handle now that it was near fully laden. Fortunately, they were at the produce aisle, which was their last stop.

"Stupid trolley." He muttered. "Why can't these things ever go in a straight line? Why do they have to swerve everywhere?"

"Maybe if we could sort the load so it was all balanced." Tasch offered. "But then, if it was one that was uneven to start with, you might only make it worse."

He blinked, amazed that she had suddenly come up with a theory for controlling a Shopping Trolley. "Its an idea, certainly. We'll have to consider that next time."

"Yeah, we will." She began. "So what do we need?"

"Apples, lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum, potatoes and onions." He replied. "Oh, and snow peas."

"Snow peas, huh?" She asked. "Say, Stephen, why the heck do people join the NUBG anyway?"

"Uhh..." He was caught off balance by the sudden change in subject. "Well, I don't know from experience, I'll admit. I've never been in the NUBG or known someone who was a member of it." He considered her question as he grabbed a bag of potatoes off the shelf. "But it is a criminal organisation."

"Maybe they're people who couldn't join the ZBC proper." She offered.

"That does make a certain amount of sense." Stephen replied. "I don't know about in the Guylos Empire, but where I come from, you need to pass a psych test before you can get a Zoid licence. And if you have a criminal record, they may decide to permanently ban you from operating one."

"Yeah, the same happens back home." Tasch replied. "They don't like criminals there."

_So I've heard, _Stephen thought. The Guylos Empire's criminal justice system was known for handing out very severe penalties for offences. "So a lot of NUBG pilots are probably people who would normally never be allowed to operate a Zoid." The trolley trundled up the aisle as Tasch bagged a lettuce and put it in the basket. "So, figuring that they can't use a Zoid legally, they'll take the easy way out and do it illegally."

"Sounds a bit silly. Y'all would think that if you weren't allowed to pilot a Zoid, there'd be a good reason for it."

"One would think that." Stephen began. "But you can't figure what everyone will do." _Especially not someone like you._

"Probably." She replied. "But the whole illegal battle thing sounds kinda dumb to me. I mean, y'all could get hurt or killed."

"Some people think its more exciting." He shrugged. "I can't see the appeal myself. I fight part because I enjoy it, but I don't see much enjoyment in getting hurt."

"Yeah. Pain hurts, and that ain't cool." She commented.

"I guess so."

"I gotta ask you another thing." Tasch continued.

"Go ahead."

"Should we use red capsicums or green?" She turned back to him, one of each in each hand. "They taste about the same, but the red's provide a nice contrast to the rest of the salad." She smiled. "On the other hand, we already got the red onions and the tomatoes for that, so maybe we should use the green ones."

"Uhm..." Stephen was lost for words.

**oOoOo**

It hadn't taken Neil that long to get down to the PKB offices. Unfortunately, when he arrived the place was already a mess of news crews desperate for a word from the PKB about what exactly was going on. The impression he got was that the PKB either hadn't found anything or that the NUBG had cleaned out the place before they'd gotten there, or something else along the same lines. At the very least, the place was in an uproar and quite surprisingly busy.

Having evaded the media hordes, he managed to beat his way to the front desk. He'd briefly considered sneaking in, ninja-style, but realised that it wouldn't really get him anywhere. Besides, there were no potplants around to hide behind. Instead, he'd fronted on up to the desk and asked about Rose. After he'd gone to great lengths to identify himself, they'd finally mentioned that she was still helping with enquiries, and that he could wait for her to be done. Seeing no alternative but to wait, he planted his arse on a seat and started staring at the wall.

After an indeterminate period of time, someone had mentioned that she would be a while longer, and that Neil should come back in 'about a hour.' Seeing no real reason to hang around, he left and took a walk around the city. After getting back, he was told that she'd be at least another hour. And so on.

Finally, sometime around six PM, Rose stepped out into the reception area. "Hi Neil." She began nervously. "Sorry to keep you waiting so long."

"No biggie." Neil replied as he stood and walked over to her. "I had an incredibly exciting day reading safety notices." To his surprise, she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Um, you okay there?"

"I'm fine, thanks." She muttered. "I'm just glad all that's over. Stupid damn NUBG."

"Its okay." He said. "I'm a friend. I'm here for you."

"Thanks Neil." She said as she stepped back. "Lets get going, shall we? I don't want to hang around here all day."

"No probs." He replied. "I got my Gunsniper parked out side with your Zero." They walked out the front doors, now mercifully devoid of media frenzy, and around to the parking lot. "So everything's under control now?" He asked.

"More or less, yeah." Rose replied. "In the end the PKB didn't find anything in the arena I told them about. I guess those NUBG guys were smart enough to clear out of there once I left." She shrugged. "They must have figured that I was going to go straight to the PKB and tell them all about the NUBG arena in there. Like I wouldn't."

"It sounds pretty stupid of them to let you in there in the first place." Neil commented as they reached their Zoids. "I mean, I don't know the full story, but I can't see any sane reason why they'd just let a total stranger walk into and out of a NUBG arena and go to the cops unmolested." He climbed into the Gunsniper's cockpit. "Unless they're really, really stupid."

"Who knows?" Rose asked as she closed the Liger's canopy. "Maybe they are all a bunch of morons after all."

The Gunsniper started up and walked out of the parking lot, the Liger following it. "I'm glad to see that your experiences haven't coloured your opinions of the NUBG at all." Neil commented. "Maybe that bunch of drooling fanboys just wanted a hottie like you to obsess over."

Rose laughed as the two Zoids headed out through the streets. "Well, funny you should mention that." Rose continued. "You know that girl from the Black Hands, Ariel?"

"The porn star looking one?" Neil replied. "I remember her. Didn't she have a sook when we beat her?"

"Pretty much." Rose explained. "Anyway, she turned out to be a member of NUBG."

"That's a surprise." Neil commented. "I thought they were all spotty geeks in there."

"Well, she was stupid enough to be a member." She continued. "Would you believe that she invited me off the street to join NUBG?"

"Rule one of Fight Club is that you never talk about Fight Club." Neil replied. "And what, she just let you go?"

"She made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone."

Neil shook his head. "And you broke that promise. Bad, bad girl."

"Hey, I was willing to say anything to get out of there." Rose explained. "I was facing a Genosaurer inside an NUBG arena. I'm sure you would have done the same."

A few drops of rain splashed off the Gunsniper's canopy. "Well... you got me there." He admitted. There was a distant rumble of thunder. "Great. It's late, its cold, its dark and there's a thunderstorm coming. Wonderful. But at least you're no longer in some underground pit staring toothy doom in the face."

"Its about to get better." Rose commented. Up ahead, a PKB Gorheks was blocking the road, several signs indicating for a detour near it. "And its on the only Zoid-rated road in the area to boot. Why do these things always happen at once?"

"Nothing we can do about it." Neil replied. "Might as well take the alternate route."

The two Zoids headed away from the junction, following the detour signs. The rain continued to drum down on the two Zoids as they continued heading down the road, moving into a run-down industrial district. "This place reminds me of the base." Neil commented. "Only with even more holes in it."

"Damn detours." Rose commented. "Hey, I'm gonna call the base, let everyone know that we're gona be late."

"Later." Neil corrected, quietly humming to himself.

There were a few moments of silence before Rose finally spoke up. "I can't raise the base, Neil." She began. "I'm getting nothing but static."

"Odd that." He replied. "Let me have a go." He activated the communicator, but it also came up with noting but a hiss. "Nope, me too."

"What do you think it is?" She asked.

"If I was to go out on a limb and look for a lame explanation, I'd say that there was a lot of metal in the local buildings, or exposed power lines or something like that." He replied. "But then, looking at it, my scope's getting a little fuzzy. The radar's not getting much except jumpy lines."

Rose glanced at him nervously. "You don't think that someone's jamming us, do oyu?"

"Its a possibility, actually." He commented as they approached an overpass. "In fact..." In spite of the mess on his scope, he could see a pair of blips approaching from behind. "I'd say its a distinct possibility." The Gunsniper increased its speed from a casual trot to a bit of a jog, pulling ahead of the Liger

"What's going on?" Rose asked, the Liger speeding up to catch the Gunsniper.

"Two blips on the scope, coming in on our six." He explained. "No idea what they are; Jamming is making a mess out of things."

Rose glanced in the rear monitor. Sure enough, she could make out a pair of Zoids in the gloom behind them, slowly closing in. The rain and lack of lighting made it hard to make out their forms; one of them was a quadruped like her own Liger, while the other stood upright like the Gunsniper, but was a lot larger. _That's not Ariel's Genosaurer, is it? _She asked herself, a sudden feeling of panic creeping in. _Oh hell._

"Rose, I think we have a problem." Neil began. "There's a pair of large Zoids behind us who seem to be jamming our comms and sensors. Its late, its dark and there's nobody around."

"Yeah..." She replied, nervously. "Do we know if they're hostile?"

As if on cue, the two of them sped up, approaching their Zoids. A burst of brilliant blue-while lighting emanated from the back of the quadruped Zoid, briefly illuminating the pair of them. Neil could see that the smaller Zoid was a Liger Zero X, while the larger was a Dark Spiner. He also knew that the pair of them were more then a match for their Zoids

The electrical blast from the Zero X tore apart the pavement behind him, sending the Gunsniper stumbling forwards for a moment before it regained its footing. Glancing back at them, he then turned to Rose. "I'd say that's a yes."

"So what do we do?" She asked.

"That X is more capable then your Zero, and the Spiner could eat my Sniper for a snack." He replied. "So I'd say we should run."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Rose replied. The Liger broke into a run, the Gunsniper alongside it. Behind them, the Dark Spiner and Liger Zero X also started running, both Zoids now opening fire on their prey.

**oOoOo **

When the Real Estate Agents had described the factory that the Broken Chairs had chosen for their base as fully furnished, they'd been stretching the truth a bit. The kitchen was, however, fully equipped... with older model appliances that had been largely left over from the previous owners of the building. Still, they were all more or less functional, and more to the point adequate for what they needed them for.

While normally the team didn't have that much use for the kitchen, today was an exception. Since they had arrived home from the supermarket, Stephen and Tasch had been hard at work, cooking up a storm in preparation for tonight.

Stephen had been moderately surprised at how good Tasch actually was. To his mind, home economics taught you little more then how to cook bangers and mash then wash up after. Instead, she seemed to have a pretty good grasp on what she was doing. At the same time, he had forgotten how much he actually enjoyed cooking.

"I didn't know you knew how to cook." He commented as he checked how the vegetables were going.

"Yeah, well I took the classes and stuff in high school." Tasch replied. "Its a part of the core courses fer female students."

That sounded rather, well, old fashioned to Stephen, but he decided not to comment. Tasch was the only person he'd ever met who came from Nyx, and, as such she was his sole first-hand source of information about it. Form what he'd heard, life on Nyx was rather harsh; yet if it was, Tasch didn't show any signs of it. She seemed to be relatively normal and well adjusted. Relatively.

"I didn't do too bad either." She added. "But I decided that I wanted to pilot a Zoid or at least work on 'em instead, so I focused on that in school."

"Interesting." He replied. "So what, you're not much of a home maker?"

"Heck no." She shook her head. "I really wanted to travel."

"Interesting. I've never met anyone else from Nyx before."

"That's strange." She considered this for a moment. "Ah well, I know there's lots of us." She checked the over for a minute. "But then, sure as heck I didn't expect you to know how to cook."

"Well I didn't intend to learn originally." He began. "But my team leader in one of my earlier jobs told me to take an anger management course and so... I ended up learning to cook. Its kinda silly, I know."

"What'd you do to get in there?"

"I worked in internet technical support for ZOL." He explained. "But I kinda lost my temper a few times at work, because of the customers. So my boss made me do a course."

"And you learned to cook while there." Tasch finished. "Sounds kinda cool. DId it help?"

"Well... no." He admitted. "But then i got into Zoid battling, and, well, I haven't had issues since."

"So where do you reckon rose and Neil are at?" Tasch asked, abruptly changing the subject. "It's gettin' a bit late."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Stephen commented. "So how's the sauce coming along?"

**oOoOo**

A blast of electricity narrowly missed Rose's Liger, instead blowing apart a concrete wall. She didn't care about the wall, instead concentrating on running from the other Zoid. The Zero leaped over another wall, landing in a crouch. No sooner was it down then she took off again, trying to keep up the distance between herself and the other Zoid.

The Liger Zero X was faster then her own Zoid, as well as being far better armed and equipped. As near as Rose could figure, that meant she was in a world of trouble against it. Rather then stand up and engage it directly, she'd been concentrating on running and evading it.

This had proved to be a problem in and of itself. Not only was the Dark Spiner jamming her sensors, but the Zero X was also proving to be very elusive. She recalled reading something about it having decent stealth capabilities, which along with the jamming want that she was constantly loosing track of it. It didn't help that it was dark and raining, which made getting even a visual sighting of it rather difficult.

A bolt of artificial lighting blasted into her Zoid's flank, blasting armour off the side and shanking her inside the cockpit. The Zero stumbled for a second, before regaining its footing and leaping out of the way of a second blast. Glancing around, she could see the other Zoid, its twin blades deployed over its head, pointing forwards and preparing for another shot. Not wanting to give it another chance, she opened the throttle again, running from the enemy Zoid.

Seeing a chance, she fired several shots from the tail gun at the other Liger. The beams went wide, but they were enough to throw the enemy Zoid off and stop him from firing again. Seeing a chance, she leaped over a derelict warehouse and kept running whole the other Zoid tried to catch up.

_If he wasn't wearing that armour, then I might stand a chance, _she thought to herself. _Who am I kidding? He's got all the advantages here. The armour is just a bonus. _She looked around, tyring to find any sign of Neil. The two of them had gotten split up while running from their attackers. _Great._

Another blast clipped the Zero's hind leg, causing the Zoid to trip and stumble, skidding along on one flank. Seeing an opportunity, the X leaped at the downed Zoid, its claws outstretched. _No you don't! _Rose began, barely managing to roll the Zero out of the way. The white Zoid leaped to its feet, then ran off again. "Neil!" She called out. "Can you hear me?" Behind her, the Zero X skidded on the wet pavement, crashing headlong into a wall.

"Barely!" He called back, the crackle of static colouring his voice. "The Spiner's still after me!" There was a burst of weapons fire over the communicator, followed by an explosion. "I've managed to stay low and avoid the worst of it so far, but I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for!"

Glancing around, she could see a burst of weapons fire in the distance that she figured to be the Dark Spiner's dual autocannons. A vague plan formed in the back of her mind; it was desperate but it was the best idea she had thus far. _The Spiner's jamming us with its fins. If I can disable them..._

The Zero skidded around a corner, then ran, making a beeline for the Dark Spiner's location. Behind it, the Zero X regained its feet, taking off after her. Keeping one eye on its location, Rose drove the Zero froward at top speed, trying to close the distance as quickly as possible while formulating a plan. She didn't want to use the impact cannon; she couldn't risk alerting the Spiner to what she was doing too early. _No option then_, she thought. _Has to be the claws._

She rounded a corner, charging across a vacant lot towards the other Zoid. The green therapod was still focused on Neil, chasing fore between warehouses. _He's distracted. One chance then... _She fired the boosters, the Zero leaping into the air, its claws tracing a golden arc behind it.

Abruptly, the Dark Spiner swung around, slamming its heavily armoured tail into the Liger Zero's side. The force of the blow smashed the Liger out of the air, sending it crashing to the ground. Rose was thrown around the cockpit, bashing her head on the back of her seat as the Zoid rolled. The Zero came to a halt, only to be struck by a blast from the Zero X that again staggered it.

"Rose!" Neil called out, the Gunsniper charging out from cover. The small Zoid opened fire on the Dark Spiner, its cannons peppering the larger Zoid's flanks. The Spiner lunged at it, casually smacking the smaller Zoid aside with its tail. The Gunsniper crashed to the ground next to Rose's Zero.

"Neil!" She called out. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry about that." He replied as the Gunsniper staggered to its feet. "I shoulda loaded up the missiles before going out. Muggers are getting real bad these days."

The Zero also managed to regain its footing. Looking around, Rose could see the Liger Zero X and Dark Spiner closing in on the pair of them. "Don't apologise." She said as she figured the odds of managing to escape them now. "I should apologise to you for getting you into this mess." She shook her head. "I should have figured that they'd do something like this If I ratted on them."

"They probably would have done it anyway." Neil offered. "You can't trust a group like NUBG."

The Zero X snarled angrily at the two battered Zoids. "So, you two ready for what's comin' to ya?" The pilot began. "We'll show ya what you get when you mess with the NUBG."

"Tea and scones?" Neil asked, a half joking, half hopeful tone in his voice. "Well, it would be nice."

"Guess what, wiseguy?" The X pilot continued. "Maybe I should-"

"Julian!" The Spiner's pilot cut him off. "There's something coming!"

"Wha-" He began, but never got a chance to finish the sentence. A brilliant blue beam struck the side of the Zero X, tearing straight through the Zoid, sending it crashing to the ground. A flash of lighting briefly illuminated a bulky quadrupedal form leaping over the downed Zoid, heading straight for the Dark Spiner. There was a horrible tearing noise as whatever it was leaped across the Spiner's path, the force of its blow knocking it off its feet.

The shape didn't wait for anything, instead taking off in a run before the Spiner even hit the ground. Instead it sprinted off before Neil or Rose could even react.

"Wha..." Rose nervously began. "What.. what just happened here?"

"I dunno." Neil replied. "And looking at these two, I don't think I want to know."

The Zero X had a massive hole blasted in its midsection between the fore and rear legs. The shot seemed to have penetrated through its body, shredding anything in its way. The Dark Spiner looked even worse; its chest had been ripped apart, leaving exposed components strewn across the landscape. Its right arm had been torn free of the body, while the left one was bent at a very unhealthy angle.

"What do you think we should do?" Rose asked.

"Run." Neil replied. "Run very fast."

**oOoOo**

Stephen finished laying out the table, then stood back to admire it. It wasn't that impressive, all things considered. The Base's main table was another piece of second hand furniture that they'd salvaged and, even with a tablecloth, it didn't look like much. Likewise, a lot of their cutlery was rather mismatched and hodge-podge, all being the results of an expedition to a thrift shop. Still, the point was that it looked a little better then it normally did, and, to his mind, that's what counted.

"Not bad, huh?" He began, looking over it.

"Yeah, its pretty decent." Tasch replied. "The tablecloth's nice, and putting the salad in the middle hides the hole real good."

"Now all we gotta do is get the others here."

As if on cue, the pair of them heard the rattling metal noise that was the sound of the hanger door opening. "Well there ya go." Tasch commented. "That'll be them now."

"Might as well pop down and say 'hi'." Tasch began. "I mean, they've had a pretty tough day."

"Why not?" Stephen asked. They walked through the base, heading down to the hanger where they expected the Zero and Gunsniper to be waiting. Instead, they were somewhat surprised by what they found.

The two Zoids were there, but both of them showed signs of obvious combat damage. The armour on the Zero's flanks had been alternatively blasted, melted and crushed in different places along its body. The Gunsniper also showed signs of damage, the armour on one side looking like it had been struck with a large, blunt implement and thrown around. Neil was helping Rose out of the cockpit of her Zoid; at least they looked all right.

"What in the heck happened to you two?" Tasch asked.

"You two okay?" Stephen added.

"We're fine." Rose commented. "Really."

"Yeah... we just had some problems on the way home. A bit of a run in with the traffic."

"Traffic nothing." Stephen commented. "You two look like you were in a battle."

"Well, we sorta were." Rose replied. "We had a run in with a pair of clowns who took a disliking to us."

Neil looked over at the Gunsniper, then back at Stephen. "And don't worry, this isn't too bad. You should see the other guy."

**oOoOo**

**Author's notes:**

In case you missed some earlier random notes, the "Shane" in this chapter is the same guy who was mistakenly referred to as "Lance" a couple of chapters ago.

Portions of this chapter are based on events that occurred in two different Zoids online RPGs; the names have been changed to protect the imbecilic. Yes, people play that stupid.


	6. A Bugs Life

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Six - A Bug's Life

By Rick R.

oOoOo

The aftermath of the attempted NUBG attack on Rose and Neil had been hectic to say the least. The team had called the PKB, who had told them to say where they were and not to move while a PKB team had been sent around. By team, they actually meant several Arosaurers and Gorheks, as well as chief Mal Loup and his Gojulas Giga. In the meantime, they'd had dinner.

The PKB had asked Rose and Neil about the attack; they'd provided all the details that they could which, in the end, were surprisingly little. One of the enemy pilots had said something about the NUBG, but whether the Zoids were from them or mercenaries that the NUBG had hired was unclear. The conditions had meant that they'd been unable to get a good look at either of the two attackers, and hadn't been able to tell if they had any distinctive markings or other notable features.

There was even less that they could say about the Zoid that had taken out the two NUBG attackers. Between the fact that it was dark, the fact that it was raining and the speed of the attacking Zoid, neither of them had been able to tell anything about the attacker. The Dark Spiner's jamming had meant that heir Zoids hadn't picked up the attacker, and hadn't been able to make much of a record of it. The fact that Neil and Rose had run off after the attack didn't help things either. Neil had offered that whatever it was, it had four legs, was very fast and made things very dead - which didn't help any.

About the only positive thing they could say was that the unseen attacker hadn't chased after the pair of them, which suggested that the two NUBG (Or whoever they were) Zoids were the targets of its attack.

The PKB had sent a team out to investigate the site of the attack. They didn't find much; the two Zoids had apparently been collected and removed from the site, presumably by the NUBG to cover their tracks. They did find a lot of debris (including a whole arm from the Dark Spiner) that did seem to verify Rose and Neil's story, however. They'd also done some checking, and found that there hadn't been any road works or the like in that area; clearly somebody had managed to acquire or mock up a PKB Zoid to redirect them into the ambush.

In the end, the PKB had decided to keep an eye on the Broken Chairs' base, just to see if anything happened. However, the general consensus was that it was very unlikely that the NUBG would try anything else. Having two expensive Zoids effortlessly trashed for no return was likely to discourage them from making another move on the team. The big worry, however, was that the team was scheduled for another battle that weekend; the last thing they and the ZBC wanted to do was to have to skip a round because of the NUBG attack.

In the end, the decision had been made to allow the Chairs to continue with the competition; however, for the time being they would be under PKB supervision to ensure that nothing happened. There were plenty of people within the ZBC and the PKB who had been involved with the attempted NUBG "invasion" of a few years ago who didn't want to see anything like that happen again.

oOoOo

Michael Heywood's office could have been best described as a mess. He wasn't the neatest or most professional of people by any standards. He believed that now that he was the leader of the biggest illegal Zoid group on the planet that he didn't have to clean up after himself. After all, there were staff to do that for him. Usually his office was a mess of video disks, magazines and empty bottles.

Today it was rather neat. He'd ordered the staff to clean it up and make the place look presentable, as he had some very important business to attend to. As a result, the office looked to be spotless, which was a surprise. At the moment, the office was a lot more crowded then usual; a quartet of people were seated around the table, while Michael stood with his back turned to his desk, looking out his office windows at the NUBG arena below him. Right now, it was empty, save for a few techs clearing it up after last night's battles.

"So let me get this straight." He began. "You two were both about to wipe those two idiots out then a Zoid came out of seemingly nowhere and wiped the pair of you out in one hit. Said Zoid then ran off into the night before you could get a decent look at it."

"That's it, boss." Shane Adams, one of the men seated around the table began. He was a tall man, but beyond that was rather surprisingly nondescript. He had short brown hair and brown eyes, and sported a few days stubble. He was dressed in a plain shirt and jeans, an a bomber jacket, and currently was sporting a very large bruise on his cheek from where he'd bashed into the side of the Dark Spiner's cockpit. "The Zoid caught us both by surprise."

"Yeah man," Julian Hatchett, his partner replied. Large and muscular, he sported a shaved head and a pointed goatee beard. He was dressed in a high-necked jumpsuit and coat, and also sported several bandages on his face; some of the Zero X's panels had blown from the power surge sent through the Zoid by the shot that had disabled it. "That thing came outa nowhere and got us both. I coulda whacked it myself, if I'd seen it."

"You two are supposed to be my best pilots and my best troubleshooters!" Michael snapped as he turned to face them, his jowls wobbling in anger. "You two were supposed to teach that girl a lesson, not get your Zoids trashed!"

"We didn't expect what happened." Shane replied. "We knew that there was no way that they could have called for help. I had their comms completely jammed up."

"So what, you're saying that some random Zoid leaped out of nowhere and trashed the pair of you then ran off?" He snapped. "That somebody just decided to take a shot at you because... oh, I don't know, they were wandering around in a darkened derelict industrial estate at the dead of night and felt like killing a couple of Zoids? Is that it?"

There was a long pause. "Well, yeah..." Julian replied. "That's what I mean, man."

The room's other two occupants glanced at each other for a moment. Rachel Golden, Michael's personal assistant, spoke first. "Isn't that like..." She trailed off. Shapely and leggy, with long blonde hair worn in a neat bun and dressed in a neatly-pressed skirt and jacket, she looked the image of a professional office worker, and not the assistant to a crime boss.

"Yeah, I know." Cole McGuire, the other man replied. "And that's just what I was thinking." The tallest of the five of them, he had short brown hair and tanned skin, while his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. He was dressed in a long black coat, with a matching shirt and pants.

"What was that?" Heywood asked.

"Its possible that the Zoid that attacked them was a vigilante of sorts." Rachel replied. "Like what happened two years ago."

Michael considered this. "Right..." He was thinking about the NUBG's attempts to take over ZBC matches and directly recruit ZBC fighters. There had been some wins and some losses, but there had been several incidents that had gone far from how they had planned it. "So what shape are the Zoids in?"

"Both of them are pretty badly beaten up, but can be repaired." Rachel continued, glancing at a datapad. "The repairs will be lengthy and expensive, but both can be made fully operable again."

Heywood glanced up at the two pilots. The two of them were both very lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries like they did. "Well, I guess I should be happy that you two arses didn't get them destroyed and yourselves both killed." He shook his head. "Go on, get outa here." He muttered. "Go get yourselves some drinks and consider yourselves to be on the shelves for the next few weeks." The pair of them stood and left.

"So what are we going to do about the Broken Chairs, boss?" Cole began.

"I don't want to let them think that they can get away with this." Michael replied. "Nobody crosses the NUBG or makes an arse of me."

"And there's other reasons to give them another go." Rachel interrupted. "Several of the backers have shown... interest in the possibility of a battle between an NUBG team and a ZBC one."

This grabbed Michael's attention. "Really?" He began. The NUBG's backers had a tendency to spend big if they thought that something was interesting. "What kind of interest?"

"Some of them find the idea to be exciting." She continued. "They'd be certainly willing to wager a considerable amount on the outcome of such an encounter."

"Really?" He asked. "Hm... we may have to look into this further." He glanced over at Cole. "What do you think?"

"Maybe we've been goin' about this all wrong." Cole replied. "I'm thinking that we might wanna get to know our targets better before we do anything too rash. Leaked personnel files can only tell us so much, y'know."

"True." Heywood nodded. "So your idea?"

"How about the Crimson Claws?" Rachel spoke up. 'They are probably our best single team and Jean himself has certain... skills that could prove to be useful."

Michael considered this. "Sounds good. We'll lie low, say let this next round go off without a hitch... and then we'll move in for the kill."

oOoOo

After the excitement that had been the weekend, the rest of the week was surprisingly quiet for the Broken Chairs. Aside from regular check-ins by the PKB who were "keeping an eye on things" for them "just in case" (And really because Neil suspected that they wanted to bust some heads) there was very little going on out of the ordinary. It was almost like the NUBG had spontaneously ceased to exist after the team's run in with them and the loss of their two Zoids.

That meant that everyone could take their minds off the NUBG and start thinking about the competition again.

The team had been having a quiet night in, deciding to relax rather then stress over what the NUBG may or may not be planning for them. So the plan was to stay home, order pizzas and watch some movies, which nobody could find a fault with. They'd even managed to agree on what to have and what to watch, which seemed a minor miracle.

"Hey... lookit this." Tasch commented as she was sitting at her laptop, going over the online pizza delivery menus and movie stores. "We got another battle scheduled."

"I was wondering if they were going to get round to that." Neil commented as he looked over her shoulder. "Check it out guys. They decided that we're safe to get in a battle after all."

Rose and Stephen both walked over, crawling around the computer. "We really need a bigger screen." Rose commented. "Next thing we do when we get some money is get ourselves a bigger computer so we don't have to crowd around it."

"Hang on a sec..." Tasch began. "We got ourselves that new telly, so that should be able to connect to it..." She picked up the laptop and walked over the their new set. It was a big, shiney silver, top of the line flatscreen that they had splashed out on after winning their battle in the last round, and had all but forgotten about with the problems with the NUBG. It looked rather incongruous next to their collection of battered, second-hand furniture.

Kneeling by the TV, she fumbled with the cables for a few minutes. "Dangity thing..." She muttered "I don't get it. I can fix a Zoid good, but can't connect a computer up... ahah!" She stood up, then pressed a few buttons on the remote control. After skipping a few blank screens, the computer's display came up on the main TV screen. "There ya'll go."

Stephen looked it over. "The Venom team, huh?" He began. "Can't say that I've heard of them myself."

"Me neither." Rose added. "Must be a new one for this year's competition or something."

"Lessee..." Tasch began as she bought up the info files attached to the e-mail. "Well this is odd."

"What is it?" Neil asked.

"They want to fight us in the desert outside of the city rather then in the arena."

"Why?" He replied. "Do they want to work on their tans?"

"Its not unheard of." Stephen commented as Tasch bought up a map of the area, and then a zoom-in on the designated battlefield. It was little more then a mess of open sand and dunes, with nothing else in sight. No trees, no rocks, no nothing. Just flat, open sand. "The Battle commission has the odd battle outside the regular arenas for a little variety of terrain. It also helps them reduce the wear and tear on the stadiums."

"Well they chose a perfectly miserable spot." Rose added. "Yeah, so its sunny and bright, but I can't see too much appeal to it beyond there. We might as well be battling in an arena."

"Maybe one of them has a thing for sand." Neil commented. "Who knows? Some Zoid pilots are nuts."

"Resent company excluded, of course." Stephen added.

"Of course."

"So what do they have?" Rose asked.

"Lesee..." Tasch bough up the team's info. "Well, they only got three Zoids; a Cannon Spider, a Guysack and a Stealth Viper."

"That's odd..." Stephen commented. "Only three Zoids and weak ones at that. Its not what I'd have expected from a team who are this far into the competition."

"Well maybe they like bug Zoids?" Tasch asked. "No, that ain't right. Stealth Viper's a snake, not a bug. Still... Cannon Spider's kinda cool."

"Its not like they're dangerous, even." Rose commented. "I mean, even Neil's Gunsniper would be able to handle their Zoids."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Neil muttered in reply.

Rose looked over the data. "Two of the team's members, including their leader, are rookies. The third..." She bought up the info. "Was on a team that got punked out and broke-up midway through the last season. So I can't see much there."

"Hey, we're all rookies too, you know." Neil interjected. "We're just rather lucky ones."

"My point stands though. They look to be, well, rather weak." She finished.

"Well, a battle's a battle." Neil commented. "And we're scheduled to fight these guys."

"Seems kinda unfair, actually." Tasch commented. "What with there being three of them and four of us."

There was a moment of silence as the team considered this. "Well..." Rose spoke up. "We could leave one of us out if the battle."

"What's that?" Neil asked.

"Well, think about it." Rose explained. "Any three of our Zoids could easily spank their Zoids around. They'd be worth hardly any competition points if we went in as we are now." She looked over the info. "But if there were only three of us, well, there'd be more points because we're fighting on more equal numbers."

"You're so mercenary, you know that?" Neil replied.

"Well it does make a degree of sense." Stephen admitted. "As it stands, if we use the full team, we'll win the battle bug get very few points from it. But if we use only three Zoids, well..." He glanced over the screen. "We'll win the battle, but we'll get a lot more for it."

"I guess so." Neil shrugged. "Tasch?"

"Well, it is a lot more fair." She replied. "I mean, I'd feel kinda mean squashing their Zoids if we outnumbered them."

"So then it's settled." Rose finished. "And I figure that it should be me, Tasch and Neil who take them on."

"Why not me?" Stephen asked.

"Points, man." Rose explained. "Your Iron Kong weighs more then their whole team put together. Heck, it weighs more then the rest of our team put together. So smacking tiny little bugs around with a giant robot ape is not going to earn us nearly as many points."

"Again with the points." Neil glared at her. "Are competition points all you think aobut?"

"Hey, its not like this battle is going to be too much of a challenge." Rose replied. "So we might as well get what we can from it."

"I guess that's fair then." Stephen put his hands up. "I've been out-argued on all fronts here. Tasch, could you reply back to the commission and tell them that only three of us will be fighting this one?"

oOoOo

The Venom Team's base was on the outskirts of the city, relatively remote from the arenas. It was part of a large block of purpose-built team bases that had only been built in the last few years, but it was on the outer edges of the section. In essence, it was a whole suburb of Zoid team bases, just another example of how far the city had gone to accommodate its biggest industry.

The Venom Team's base was one of the smaller faculties, consisting of a single base building and several Zoid hangers that were more akin to car garages then anything else. And while the base was rather small and simple, it suited the needs of its occupants perfectly.

One of the advantages that their base had over that of the Broken Chairs was that it had been outfitted with a pre-equipped briefing room that could be used for planning battles and other purposes. The Venom Team had made extensive use of the facility; it was a good part of why they had managed to succeed so far.

Laura Anderson, the team's leader, had called them together for a meeting. They'd gotten another battle allocated by the ZBC, one that was shaping up to be one of the more interesting battles thus far in their carrier. Laura didn't look the part of the stereotypical female Zoid fighter. She was short, with features that could be best described as "cute". She had shoulder length red hair and blue eyes that were behind thick-rimmed glasses. To finish the image, she was decked out in a thick turtle necked cardigan and baggy pants.

"Hey guys." She began with a smile. "Thanks for coming so promptly. I wanted to go over the plan for our next battle."

"First thing I need to know," Larry Rex, one of her team spoke up. "Is it in the desert?" Larry was a thin, almost gaunt man, with dark hair, a moustache and a small goatee beard. He was decked out like some sort of would be outlaw biker, in tattered jeans, a leather jacket and dark glasses - regardless of how appropriate they were to the situation. He was also the most experienced member of their team; the other two were rookies.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like to know that too." Milton Palmer, the third member of the team spoke up. Only a hair taller then Laura, he was rather lightly built, with short brown hair and brown eyes. "I mean, if it isn't, then we're probably gonna be in trouble."

"Milton, you can relax." She smiled. Milton was always like this; rather nervous and jumpy, especially before a battle. "It's in the desert, so we can go with the usual plan."

"Well that's a relief." He admitted. "I was kinda worried there for a bit."

"So who are we going up against?" Larry asked, cutting off any further replies.

She pressed a button on her remote, bringing up some information on the screen. "The opposition for our next battle is a team known as the Broken Chairs."

"Funny name." Larry muttered.

"Yeah, it is a bit odd." She admitted. "Anyway, they're a team of all rookies." Which meant that in theory the team had an experience lead on their opponents. Larry had been in the battles for a year and a half before joining the team and had proven to be an invaluable asset to them so far. She would have freely admitted that she was really only doing this whole 'Zoid battle' thing as a bit of fun, but so far she'd turned out to be surprisingly good at it.

"Well that's okay then." Milton spoke up. 'I mean, what with two of us being rookies and all..."

"I did some checking on them, I think that they may be better then they look." She pressed another button, bringing up some battle statistics. "As you can see, they're yet to loose a battle, either individually or as a team. In fact in all their battles so far, only one of them hasn't been a four-nil victory."

"Sounds dangerous." Milton replied.

"Good." Larry drawled out. "I like a bit of danger, a bit of a challenge every now and then. I wanna see what these rookies will do."

"So, uh, what Zoids do they have?" Milton asked. He was almost the most jumpy about this part.

Another screen came up, showing the other team's Zoids. "Gunsniper, Redler, Liger Zero and Iron Kong. All pretty standard stuff." She explained. "The Iron Kong has been outfitted with the full PK armaments, but that's the limit of their modifications. As of their last battle, they don't have any CAS units for the Zero, which means that we can pretty much figure what its going to do."

"That one Kong weighs about twice as much as the whole team." Larry muttered. "We're gonna have a hard time with it."

"Well, I suspect that they will reduce the team's numbers so that they will get more points for the battle." She continued. "As they stand, they're at 353 tons. Without the Kong, they drop to 144 tons. Now when you compare that to our 85.5 tons, you can see that they'd have reasons for dropping it out - if they want to get any points off the battle, thy'll slim down the team. Heck, the Zero on its own weighs as much as we do."

"That's quite a difference." Milton commented. "And it does make sense for them to do it."

Laura nodded, clearly able to see how relieved Milton was about the idea of not facing the Iron Kong. "So as I see it, we can go for the standard attack plan. We'll isolate the Zero first, as it's the largest of their Zoids, and does have the capacity to take any of us out in a single attack."

"So what about the Redler?" Larry asked. "I don't want that thing swooping down on me."

"Speaking form experience, huh?" She asked with a smirk. "Like a certain Raynos, maybe?"

Larry quietly fumed. "You know what I mean."

"Don't worry about it." She said. "Between your SAMs, your Bomber unit and my missiles, we've got more then enough firepower to get the Redler should it try anything. Trust me, I've got it all in hand. The only real worry is what Zoids they choose to use." Laura smiled. "But, well, I think i've got a good idea."

oOoOo

After a short debate, Stephen had decided to rent a Gustav to transport the Zoids out to the battlefield. Rose had argued that it was unnecessary and that it would just be a waste of money. Stephen had countered that, should any of their Zoids be disabled in the battle, it'd be useful to have some way to transport them back to the base for repairs afterwards. Rose had offered that they were very unlikely that any of them would be knocked out in this battle. Neil had suggested erring on the side of caution, because he could have sworn that the other team had to be up to something.

And then Tasch had commented that the very first Zoid she ever drove was a Gustav, and that sealed it.

"Well, here we are." Stephen began as the Gustav pulled up at the battlefield. They were in the middle of a desert, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was hard to believe that it was only a couple of hours back to the city. "You guys ready?"

The three Zoids of the Broken Chairs strode out onto the flat, open expanse of sand, then stopped just inside the boundaries of the battlefield. Compared to the arenas that they were used to, this was a completely different environment. The area consisted mainly of rolling sand dunes, with a clear, cloudless blue sky overhead.

"This is kinda nice." Tasch began as she looked around the battlefield. "Yeah, it ain't bad at all."

"I thought it would be too bright for you." Rose commented, the Liger standing next to her Redler.

"Naw." Tash shook her head. "I got the glare filters on an' I'm wearin' my sunglasses, so it ain't so bad. Besides, it just feels good to get out and about, y'know?"

"Well it does make for a pleasant change from the usual arena." Neil continued. "I mean, there's only so much of seeing the one arena over and over again that one can take."

"Enjoying the change?" Rose asked, jokingly.

"I'm beginning to see why so many office workers go crazy." He replied. "Looking at the same set of walls each and every day would be enough to drive me nuts."

"Yeah, but in an office, there's nobody shooting at you." Rose offered.

"Not unless they go crazy first." Tasch interjected. "'cause then you'd have no idea what might happen."

Neil shook his head. "You've got all the answers, don't you?" He asked.

In the distance, a Gustav pulled up on the other end of the designated battlefield. Its pilot climbed out, walking back to one of the three Zoids on its trailers. After a minute, the three of them clambered off and arranged themselves at the far end of the battlefield.

The Venom Team's three Zoids were a lot less impressive then those used by the Broken Chairs. The largest of them was a Cannon Spider; this particular Zoid had been modified with a large beam cannon and a three-shot missile pod on the sides of its main missile launcher. Coloured white and red, it stood out against the backdrop of the desert battlefield, and especially next to its two team-mates.

The other two Zoids had also been modified; the Stealth Viper sported a CP-06 Bomber unit on its body, while the Guysack was a little further altered. A pair of beam guns were mounted on the sides of its back in place of the smoke launchers; both were unfamiliar designs. One of the smoke launchers had been moved to the tail, replacing the communications dish normally mounted there.

"Well, they seem ot have invested a fair deal in souping up their Zoids." Neil commented. "All three of them are packing some modifications."

"I'm not that worried." Rose replied. "We've still got it all over them. Even your Gunsniper's gonna wail on any of them."

"...I still wanna know how they got this far." Neil commented. "There has to be somehting we're misisng here."

"Dumb luck?" Rose offered. "Don't sweat it, Neil. We can handle these guys."

A beep form the Liger's console indicated an incoming transmission. Rose answered it, a vid-window popping up with an image of one of the enemy pilots. She was a young woman, who Rose figured to be a touch on the short side. She had shoulder-length red hair, blue eyes and an outfit that seemed to emphasise her cleavage. "Hey there." The woman began. "Laura Anderson, leader of the Venom team here."

"What's up?" Rose asked, a bit surprised by this. It was unusual for the other teams to talk prior to a battle commencing.

"Not much." She replied. "Just thought I'd wish you guys luck before the start of the battle." She cheerily replied.

"Well that's awfully nice of y'all." Tasch added, butting in on the conversation. "An' good luck to you too."

"Thanks for that." Laura replied and smiled. "Well, looks like its time to go. See ya!" She finished and closed the window as the monitor drone floated over the battlefield.

"The Broken Chairs versus the Venom Team." The electronic voice of the battle monitor began as it circled the area. "Both teams confirmed. Battlefield confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

As expected, the Cannon Spider made the first move. The Zoid elevated its cannon, then fired off a single missile into the air. Neil was the first to react, shouting out as he watched the missile climb into the air. "Scatter!" He shouted out, the three Zoids breaking and running in separate directions. Neil knew that the Cannon Spider's missile could carry a wide variety of warheads, and that several of them could be effective across a wide area.

Instead of coming down on any of them however, the missile exploded in midair in a brilliant ball of light, temporarily blinding the three pilots. Tasch cried out, her Redler suddenly lurching across the landscape. "I can't see a thing!" She yelled. The Redler stumbled, as if it had no idea where it was going.

"Me neither!" Rose yelled back, spots swimming before her eyes. The Zero shook its head and roared, as if it was confused. "Damn... what the hell just happened there?" She blinked several times, her vision slowly returning to her. "Damn it..."

"Urgh." Neil muttered. "It's a flare bomb, I guess." He checked the Gunsniper's scope, but all he could see was a mess of spots. "Dazzles and confuses you for a bit."

"So what are those clowns up to?" Rose asked, finally able to get some vision back. Looking around, she could see nothing save for empty desert. It was like the enemy Zoids had simply vanished from sight. "Dammit, where are they - aaaah!"

The ground to the Liger's side suddenly erupted into a cloud of sand as the Cannon Spider emerged form hiding. The Zoid opened fire, its heavy beam cannon tearing into the Liger's flank at near point-blank range. The larger Zoid stumbled as Rose fought to keep the machine under control. "Hell!" She screamed. "The Spider's over here!"

The Zero turned to face the Cannon Spider, but before it could fire, the smaller Zoid dug into the ground again, vanishing in a cloud of sand. Rose fired anyway, a pair of blasts from the impact cannon chucking up huge clouds of sand, but not doing anything else.

"Hey!" Rose called out. "Come out and fight ya-" She was cut off as a blast hit the Liger from behind, sending it stumbling forwards. Glancing in a monitor, she could see the Guysack was behind her, its three cannon barrels smoking. Snarling, she fired the tail gun at the enemy Zoid. The smaller scorpion Zoid scurried out of the way, then opened fire again, this time scorching armour from the Zero's flank.

"He guys!" She called out. "I could use a little help here!"

"Just a sec..." Neil called out. "Sit tight. I'm coming for ya!" The Gunsniper broke into a run, sprinting across the desert towards the embattled Liger.

oOoOo

Inside the cockpit of his Stealth Viper, Larry Rex smiled to himself. His Zoid was well hidden inside the sand dunes, and poised to strike. The plan was going of flawlessly... as it tended to do. He had to admit, Laura's plan was a good one. Deep down, he would have admitted that he was not the bravest of people; however the idea of ambushes form cover was very appealing to him.

The team had been using the plan so far this season, and it had worked for them. He had to admit that when he first joined the team, he was rather dubious about their chances of success; after all, they were in three small and relatively weak Zoids. Very few people ever did well with Guysacks or Stealth Vipers; they were usually seen as 'beginner' Zoids that people who couldn't afford better used. And in general, there just weren't that many Cannon Spiders in the competition.

Of course, he hadn't exactly been spoiled for choice when it came to picking a team this year. After the little disaster that had been last year's season, he had become rather unpopular with a lot of established teams... Never mind that what happened hadn't been his fault, oh no. But he'd copped the blame for it anyway.

But then the Venom Team had come along. Laura was new, but she hade a lot of rather interesting ideas... not the least of which was what one could actually do with a Guysack, Cannon Spider or Stealth Viper. She'd said that she liked his style and the way that he fought, which was good enough for him.

The ground shook as the Gunsniper ran closer and closer to his position. Figuring the enemy Zoid's location from the sound of its footfalls, he quietly counted down to himself. _Three... two... one... now!_

The Stealth Viper reared up out of the ground, sending sand cascading from off its body. Spotting the enemy Zoid, he quickly opened fire with the twin head-mounted beam cannons, sending fire across the sand at the enemy Zoid. Several shots pinged off the ground before striking the Gunsniper in the legs, sending it stumbling backwards. The enemy pilot recovered faster then he expected, however, and turned to face him.

Not wasting any time, he opened fire with his Zoid's twin wrist-mounted guns, sending streams of fire back at the Viper. Not wanting to be caught out in the open, Larry opened up the Zoid's throttle. The Viper dived into the sand again, kicking up a cloud behind it as the first few shots tore into the sand where it had been.

"Not bad, huh?" He began as the Viper burrowed underground. The key part of the plan was to keep evading the enemy Zoid and keep its pilot on the move. He used the terrin to his favour, keeping out of the way of the other machine's line of fire, hiding where they couldn't find them... and then doing the completely unexpected.

The Viper surfaced, on the other side of the Gunsniper, the two Zoids with tier back to each other. "Bet you're not expecting this, are you?" He asked as he squeezed the triggers again. A quartet of rockets leaped from the Stealth Viper's back, slamming into the Gunsniper and sending it staggering forwards. The smaller Zoid collapsed, falling flat on its face. "Yeah, that's the trick." He muttered to himself.

To his surprise, however, the Gunsniper managed to make it back to its feet, clearly not out of action as he'd originally thought. "What the hell?" He asked. "I'll have to deal with you- oh-oh!" His sensors beeped as they detected another Zoid approaching; fast, and airborne. "Crap! Its the Redler!"

The Viper dived into the sand again its tail remaining exposed for a moment. The dual missile launcher on the tail swung towards the Redler, then fired, sending its twin missiles airborne and chasing after the Redler. Then, without pausing to see if they made their target, the rest of the Viper vanished into the ground. Larry knew that there was no way that he was going to hang around where an enemy Zoid could grab him, especially not an airborne Zoid. Experiences had told him that flying Zoids were very, very bad for him.

_Yeah, Vanessa, I'm talking about you, _he thought to himself. The only thing he'd found that was worse then a flying Zoid was a flying Zoid piloted by a vengeful ex-girlfriend.

oOoOo

"Ah heck!" Tasch shouted out as the two missiles soared up towards her Zoid. The Stealth Viper's pilot had done well to launch them and then duck under cover; now she had to deal with his cleverness.

The two missiles were headed straight at her. In response, she threw the HOTAS hard to one side, the Redler banking away from their path. As expected, the missiles turned to follow her. "Yeah, I can see y'all." She muttered to herself. "But you ain't gonna catch me!" As the missiles closed in, she pulled the Redler around in a tighter turn now crossing over their path and turning inside them. The enemy missiles continued to turn, but were beginning to loose her.

"An' now, yer gone!" She shouted out. She stomped on the foot pedals, then swerved then sharply to the side. The Redler's twin boosters turned, pulling the Zoid around in an incredibly tight circle. The missiles tried to follow her but to no avail; instead, the first one crossed into the second's flight path, triggering its proximity fuse. The two missiles exploded into a ball of flame.

The Redler swung around, resuming a slightly more normal flight pattern as Tasch searched around for her attacker. "How are y'all doing down there?" She asked over the communicator.

"Craptacular!" Rose shouted back. "These guys won't stand still and fight!" The Cannon Spider burrowed into the sand again as Rose took a shot at it. Before she colds do anything else, the Guysack emerged, swiping at her Zoid's legs with its claws and neatly slicing a chunk out of one of them. "Damn it! Don't these guys ever give up?"

"You're making yourself into a target like that." Neil replied. "Get moving! We'll cover you."

"Right..." Rose trailed off. She figured what she'd been doing wrong; she'd been letting the two enemy Zoids box her in and distract her, and hadn't been thinking about her own advantages here. She opened up the throttle, the Zero sprinting away from the two enemy Zoids. The Guysack and Cannon Spider both opened fire with their beam cannons, the shots narrowly missing the fleeing Zoid.

"Comin' for ya!" Neil called out as the Gunsniper opened fire on the Guysack. In response, the enemy Zoid dug into the ground, vanishing into a cloud of dust. Before he could turn his attention to the Cannon Spider, however, the ground behind his Zoid erupted as the Stealth Viper emerged again. hissing loudly, the Zoid opened fire with its cannons.

"Whoah!" Neil called out. "I'm beginning to really, really dislike this snake!" The Gunsniper fired its boosters, scurrying out of the Viper's line of fire. "Tasch, can I get some help down here?" He yelled out.

"Sure thing!" She called back, the Redler diving towards his Zoid. Tasch dropped her sights onto the Stealth Viper, but, before she could open fire, a loud screech came form the radar warning receiver. "What in the heck?" She asked as she desperately searched around for the source of the attack.

On the ground, the Cannon Spider opened fire again, a large missile soaring out from its back and heading straight at her Zoid. Firing its boosters, the Redler climbed away form the missile as it chased after it. Then, to Tasch's considerable surpise, the missile's body split open... revealing a cluster of half a dozen smaller missiles with in. Each one of them soared after the Redler, closing in on it.

"Ah, hell!" She called out, desperately throwing the Redler into a sharp turn, trying to evade the enemy warheads.

oOoOo

Looking at the situation as it was unfolding from cockpit of her Cannon Spider, Laura Anderson couldn't help but laugh to herself. She was really enjoying this battle so far, and not just because it was going just as she had planned. She watched the Redler for a moment as the pilot tried to dodge and weave through the flight of missiles coming after them. She had to give the enemy pilot bonus points for trying. That's what she liked to see, a little effort.

Laura thought that easy or one-sided battles weren't that exciting. That was why she had formed the Venom Team, so she could enjoy the challenge. The idea was that the team would fight in very unexpected, very odd ways and use superior tactics and unusual equipment choices to beat their enemies, not just sheer firepower or brute force as so many others preferred. The idea was that the team would use their brains and not their brawn to beat their opponents.

Besides, there was something rather appealing about beating a superior Zoid using such an underated machine as a Cannon Spider. Proving that it could be done was just as much fun, to her mind, as actually doing it. And the look on the enemy pilots face would probably be priceless afterwards.

And she liked spiders, which was always a bonus.

Having tied up the Redler for the moment, she turned her attention to the fleeing Liger Zero. The enemy pilot was trying to get away from her and Milton by simply running away. A fair plan, she figured, as their Zoids were both less then half as fast as the Liger. And she figured that the Liger's pilot had been expecting the Redler and Gunsniper to support them while they ran. Good plan, but it wouldn't benefit Laura if they pulled it off.

She locked up the Liger with the Spider's targeting system. Quickly thumbing the available options, she selected a high-explosive single warhead round from the remaining missiles. She liked the versatility that the Cannon Spider's weapon provided, but at the same time, she also knew that every now and then, a big stick was just as good.

The Spider rocked as the missile fired form the cannon, streaking straight at the Liger's damaged flank. As fast as the Liger was moving, the missile was going about seven times faster... which didn't give the pilot much time to react. The warhead struck the Liger in the side, the force of the blast lifting it off its feet and then slamming it down hard on its side.

Grinning to herself, Laura opened up the throttle, the Cannon Spider scurrying towards the downed Zoid. She was pretty sure that the missile had knocked it out of action, but experience had taught her that it always helped to be certain about these things. As the Spider bolted across the sand, she dropped the targeting sights for the beam cannon onto the Liger's exposed belly, finger on the trigger. _Just In case._

The Liger, however remained motionless, giving indicating that it was indeed out of action. Spinning the Cannon Spider around, she headed back towards the rest of the battle. Looking around, she could see that the Redler had managed to make its way through the mess of missiles she had thrown at it. _Okay, she's good, _she thought to herself. _So let's see what else this team has to offer._

Looking around, she could see the Gunsniper was running at the Stealth Viper, the two Zoids blazing away at each other to surprisingly little effect. The Gunsniper was proving to be surprisingly evasive, while Larry was staying low to the ground and making himself a harder target. Watching them go, however, she figured out what was going on.

"Larry!" She shouted into the communicator. "Look out!"

"Wha?" He called back, but was too late. The Gunsniper kicked at the Stealth Viper, the Zoid's toe claws catching it under the head. The Viper was knocked sideways, and was sent crashing headfirst into the ground.

"Dammit!" The Viper lacked melee weapons, which made it near helpless in close combat. The Gunsniper had managed to get up close enough to take advantage of this weakness. Seeing the danger to her team-mate, she dropped her sights onto the Gunsniper. "Milton! Take him out!" She called out over the communicator.

"Sure thing... look out, Laura!" He yelled out.

The Cannon Spider was rocked by several hits as the Redler swooped down on it, firing its twin beam cannons at her. Glancing around, she sighted the Redler as it pulled away for another pass. "Too close..." She muttered, opening up the throttle. The Cannon Spider again vanished into the ground, the Guysack right behind it.

oOoOo

Neil looked around for any sign of the Stealth Viper. The Zoid had vanished underground, which meant that he couldn't sight it visually. Furthermore, the design of it and the other Zoids on the enemy team meant that they were very hard to detect; what little returns he would have normally gotten on the 3D Radar system were now coming up completely blank. It meant that he would have no idea of where the next attack would be coming from.

Checking over the Gunsiper's status board, he could see that such an attack would likely finish him off. _Not good... I see very little in the way of armour here. _The Zoid's legs and chest had been all but stripped bare, and the rear was a mess after the rocket attack. _And that's on a Zoid that doesn't have too much armour to begin with... _He added as he checked things over. _I'm just not built for this sorta fighting._

The way the Venom Team was battling favoured them; they could hit and fade and slowly wear his Zoid down, while he could only react and take a shot in passing. He knew he'd damaged the Viper, but as far as he could tell, the other two were still undamaged. _Not that it'd take much to put down the Guysack_, he figured. _All I gotta do is get it into the open..._

Which beggared one question. How the hell were the Venom team able to locate their Zoids? Being underground would block out most standard sensor systems; and while he knew that the Cannon Spider had some specialised sensory equipment, he doubted that it would be good enough to let them spot their Zoids with such accuracy. So how were they doing it?

"Hey Tasch!" He called out as he glanced around. "Can you see any sign of them?"

"Nope." She replied. "I can't see nothing from up here."

"Right. Cover me. I'm going to see if I can find some higher ground..." The Gunsniper broke into a run, sprinting across the desert. Within seconds, the Stealth Viper popped up near his Zoid, opening fire from behind this time. "Aw come on, now you're being silly!" Neil snapped. The Gunsniper weaved and dodged through the enemy Zoid's fire, its pilot desperately trying to avoid any further damage.

"I'm comin' for ya!" Tasch called out. "Hang on!" The Redler swooped down, opening fire with its twin beam cannons. A shot struck the Stealth Viper in the flank, scoring armour off its midsection. The enemy Zoid, its pilot clearly desperate to avoid another attack, dived into the sand again.

Neil suddenly stopped the Gunsniper, the small Zoid looking around for any sign of its opponents. However, for the moment, there was nothing. _Where are they? _He asked himself. _Why do they wait until I'm running to attack? _A vague idea began to form in the back of Neil's head, one that suddenly made sense. "Hey Tasch, you've only seen them attack us when we're moving, right?"

"Well... yeah." She began. "'cept for the initial attack. I didn't see much of anything there, what with the flare bomb and all."

"I thought so." He replied. "I think they're listening in to the sound of our Zoids moving across the sand... maybe they have sensors that allow them to detect the vibrations from the feet or something like that."

"Y'know, that makes sense." Tasch replied. "It'd explain why they don't attack when we don't move."

"Yeah..." He commented. "Now if only we could lure 'em out of hiding." He contemplated the idea. "I mean, I could run around blindly and make myself a target, but I'm not in the best shape for that."

"You could do that..." Tasch commented. "But it may be easier fer y'all to shoot them form down there. I mean, you've got more firepower then' me..." She considered the matter. "Actually, I think I got an idea."

"Oh?" Neil asked. "What is it?"

"I run... and pretend to be you. Then when they pop up to attack me, y'all can shoot them."

"That's..." He thought it through. "That's a good idea, I guess."

"So let's go then." Tasch finished, enthusiastically.

The Redler landed next to the Gunsniper in a crouch. Then the Redler took off, breaking into its bizarre hopping run, bouncing its way across the desert. Neil watched it go, amused at the way the Redler ran. It wasn't like anything else he'd ever seen, and he never quite got used to watching it.

As he expected, the Stealth Viper popped up behind her Zoid. "Tasch!" He called out. "On your six!"

"I see him!" She shouted back. The Redler suddenly leaped into the air, its engines lifting it straight up. Before the Stealth Viper could react, Neil opened fire on the Zoid form behind. The Viper's pilot hadn't seen him or, more likely, was surprised by the Redler's actions. As a result, he wasn't prepared for what happened. The Viper's body was rocked with shots from the Gunsniper's cannons. The Zoid shook and shuddered, then collapsed, slumping onto the sand.

"Yeah!" Neil called out. "I got him! I got him good!"

"Cool beans!" Tasch replied. "Now we gotta get the other two."

"Well... yeah." In his excitement, he had forgotten about the Guysack and the Cannon Spider. "Okay, Tasch? You fele up to doing it again?"

"Dang tootin' right I do." She rpelied with a grin. "Let's show these guys what we can do!"

oOoOo

Milton Palmer nervously waited in the cockpit of the Guysack, listening for the tell-tale sounds of a Zoid moving nearby. He knew that Laura's Zoid was nearby, but at the same time he felt very exposed and alone. He knew that Larry's Zoid had been knocked out of action, which made him worried that the other team may have found a way to locate their Zoids.

Even though they had beaten the biggest and most dangerous Zoid on the enemy team, he still wasn't too comfortable with the idea of taking on the Gunsniper and the Redler. The Gunsniper had a lot more firepower then his Guysack, easily more then enough to take him out. And while his Guysack had been equipped with a pair of decently-sized beam cannons, it still was a rather small and weak Zoid.

The sensors beeped as they registered a Zoid's footfall nearby. Then came another one, then more. There was definitely a Zoid nearby, he figured. The pattern that it was tracing indicated that it was about to come right by him... a perfect chance to strike.

The Guysack clambered out from under the ground, shedding sand as it emerged. Inside the cockpit, Milton looked around for the Zoid that he had been tracking. As far as he could tell, it should have been right in front of him. Instead, there was nothing. _Where'd it go? The Gunsniper should be right here? _He glanced around, and then up, and spied the Redler launching into the air. _Wait, if that's the Redler, then where's the..._

There was a quartet of loud explosions as the Guysack was literally slammed from behind. The Zoid was knocked forwards, sprawling across the sand before crashing to the ground face-first. Checking his status board, he could see that something had just blasted him form behind, all but crippling his Zoid. The tail's controls weren't responding along with the weapons mounted on it, while the rear two legs were also out of action.

The Guysack tried to stumble to its feet, its pilot now very worried. He realised that he'd been caught out and that he was in big trouble; he had to get out of there before the enemy Zoid could strike again. The Guysack stumbled forwards, only to be hammered again by a burst of fire from the enemy Zoid. The shots tore through the remaining legs, then detonated the smoke launcher on the Zoid's side. As the Zoid was enveloped in a cloud of black smoke, he glumly noted that its combat system had been disabled.

Still, he could help out. "Uh, Laura?" he began as he activated the communicator, about the only system still functioning. "They've hit on our plan and knocked me out of action... just be careful."

oOoOo

Tasch's Redler circled around the cloud of black smoke that was slowly billowing out of the downed Guysack. "Didja get him?" She asked.

"I'd say so." Neil replied. "The radar system says that his Zoid is out of action, so think he's a goner."

Tasch nodded. "Well that means we've only got one of 'em to go. We've really turned this one around, huh?"

"That we have." Neil added, mentally adding that he did not want to be around Rose after the battle. He doubted that she would take being beaten by a Cannon Spider that well. "Okay, ready to go? All we need to do is snare that Spider."

"Yup." She replied. "Let's go."

The Redler again dived down towards the desert floor and burst into a hopping, skipping run. This time, rather then run in a straight line, Tash bounded across the desert, trying to confuse the enemy pilot as to her heading and intentions. The Redler belted along, then suddenly skidded and changed directions, continuing along its path. "Come on..." She muttered. "I know yer down there."

"Maybe she's further away then we thought." Neil commented, his Gunsniper patiently watching the hopping Redler. "Maybe she can't detect you yet."

"I'm makin' enough noise for it." Tasch commented. "I don't get it." The Redler stopped in and abrupt skid, then slowly turned, and began running again along a different heading. "Come on... come on. I'm makin' as much noise as a heard of Elephanders here."

As Neil watched, an area of sand near the Redler began to shift, then a red and white shape emerged from it, facing the Redler. "Tasch, she's there, right behind you!" He yelled over the communicator.

"I see her!" Tasch called back. The Redler fired its boosters and leaped into the air, soaring away from the Zoid.

"Now I've got - whoah!" Neil dropped his sights onto the Cannon Spider, but before it could fire, the Zoid responded. To his surprise, the turret swung around to face him, then launched another missile at his Zoid. "Ah hell!"

In desperation he fired off the remaining missiles from his Zoid, sending them straight at the oncoming projectile. The two weapons met in mid-flight, far to close to him for comfort. The enemy missile exploded, the blast showering the Gunsniper with debris and shrapnel. Several rounds stabbed into the Zoid, tearing into the allready damaged leg, knocking it down on its side.

"Ah... poop." He muttered. Struggling with the controls, he managed to prop the Gunsniper up. The battered Zoid managed to make it to one knee. Checking the status board, he could see that the Zoid's leg was damaged but not destroyed and it was still operational. "I guess I got lucky after all."

Glancing around, he could see that the Cannon Spider had turned its attention to Tasch's Redler. The Spider opened fire wit hthe large beam cannon mounted on its back, the shots narrowly missing the airborne Zoid. To his annoyance, he could see that the Spider was also out of range of his weapons; in fact, he suspected that the enemy pilot had done that on purpose...

"Hey Tasch!" He called out. "My leg's busted. I can't help you out form here. Sorry!"

"That's okay." She called back. "I think I know what I'm doing this time."

"This time?" He asked. "Well, if you're sure..."

"Positive." She rpelied as her eyes narrowed. The Redler lopped up and over the Cannon Spider, then dived down, lining it up for a strafing run. The Spider's pilot reacted first, however. The Zoid's main cannon fired again, sending another missile heading straight for her.

"Tasch!" Neil called out.

"Don't worry about it." She replied. "I know what I'm doin'" The Redler dived towards the missile, which split open as the last one had. The missile disgorged its load of smaller weapons, which climbed away form the shell and streaked towards the Redler.

"Nice try." She began. "But I'm smarter then y'all." The Redler abruptly dived away form the missiles, screaming straight for the desert floor. Then Tasch twisted the bosters again, the Zoid levelling out to zoom across the desert - albeit inverted. The missiles slammed into the ground behind the Redler, unable to follow the Zoid.

"And now yer mine." She finished. The Redler sped straight towards the Cannon Spider, still inverted. At the last possible second, its tailblade flicked out form the housing, slicing at the Cannon Spider as it passed over it. The blade sliced through the trio of cannons mounted on the Zoid's back, neatly slicing them across their barrels. The severed portions of all three weapons clattered to the ground, sliced free from the Zoid's body.

The Redler pulled up and circled around, flying around the damaged Cannon Spider. "I gotcha good, didn't I?" She asked nobody in particular.

The communicator beeped to life. "Nice work there." Laura's voice began. "You did a great job there... I wouldn't have expected anything like that." The red-haired woman smiled. "And you've neatly crippled my Zoid too. As enjoyable as this battle has been, I'm afraid I'm going to have to surrender."

"Well sure thing." Tasch replied. "An' thanks."

oOoOo

The three of them watched as Stephen used the Gustav's cranes to up the Liger and load it onto the trailers. The Zoid would need a lot of work when it got back to base; same for the Gunsniper. By comparison, the Redler seemed to be nearly unharmed.

As soon as the Zoid was loaded, Rose walked over to where Tasch and Neil were standing and watching the proceedings. "How come my Zoid gets trashed, but you guys in the low-end cheap machines manage to come through and win the match?" She asked.

"Dumb luck, I guess." Neil replied. "Or maybe just brute stupidity."

"Well, they did go after you first 'cause you had the biggest Zoid." Tasch added. "Heck, they kinda forgot about me for a while."

"Lucky you." Rose commented. "Ah well, can't be helped, I guess. That was probably what my dad would have called a 'learning experience' or a 'character-building moment'." She made little inverted comma motions with her fingers to emphasise the point. "You know, you haven't learnt humility until you get trashed by a Cannon Spider."

"Don't worry about it, Rose." Neil replied. "If you think about it, there are a couple of teams out there now who lost to those guys without getting the benefits of earning a few points in reply." He shrugged. "We were the lucky ones in this case."

"Yeah..." Rose nodded. "I guess I've learned to stop underestimating my opponents."

"Well I never did." Tasch added. "I always figured these guys were up to somethin', and I was right."

"How'd you figure that?" Neil asked.

"Well, they'd made it this far in only a Cannon Spider, a Stealth Viper an' a Guysack." She explained. "Any team doin' this good in those Zoids has to be up to somethin'."

"Good point." Rose replied. "Damn it, I hate it when you make perfect sense like that."

Stephen walked over to the team. "Well guys, I've got the Zoids secured." He began. "So, you ready to get going? I figure there's not much reason to hang around here."

"Hang on a sec." Neil began. "I think somebody wants to have a word with us." Looking around, he could see the three members of the Venom team standing nearby. Almost immediately he was surprised by how short Laura was.

The four of them walked over to the other team. "Wow." Laura began. "I've got to hand it to you guys. You managed to do what no other team has done so far and figure us out. I'm impressed."

"Ah, it was little more then blind speculation, really." Neil replied. "You guys had us good. You had done a great job of trapping us."

"Yeah, but we didn't figure out what you guys were up to." Milton shook his head. "When you, uh, figured it out and used those decoys on us, we were really caught by surprise. You did just as good a job of trapping us."

"And you managed to get two of us with surprising ease." Laura continued. "Not bad at all, really."

"These guys do that sort of stuff all the time." Rose commented. "You'd be amazing how often she'll go for the purely crazy stuff in a battle." She indicated to Tasch.

"Well, that was quite impressive of you." Laura added. "I really, really didn't expect what you did there, flying inverted and striking with the tailblade. I was all prepared for another strafing run or maybe a strike with the claws, but not that. That was..." She considered it. "Quite incredibly brave, possibly crazy. Nice work."

"Ah heck, it weren't nothing." Tasch replied. "I jus' did whatever came to my mind at the time."

"Fascinating." Laura finished. "Well, you guys have done well today and I for one am very impressed. I hope to see you again some day."

"Me too." Tasch finished. "And y'all did great too."

"Thanks." She finished. The team turned and walked back to the Gustav that was standing by to carry off their disabled Zoids.

"Well they were surprisingly polite." Neil added. "We need to meet more people like that."

Rose shrugged. "Yeah, probably." She spoke up. "Come on. Let's get home. I don't want to dwell on the fact that I got trashed by a Cannon Spider any longer."

"You've got no sense of humour, you know that?" Neil commented as they walked back to the Gustav. "But then, you're so forgiving and accepting."

"Ha ha, Neil." She replied. "Very funny."

"I try, Rose. I try."

"So, glad I hired the Gustav now?" Stephen asked.

"Shut up the lot of you." She shook her head. "I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?"

oOoOo

**Author's notes:**

At a relatively early stage of development, one of the characters was a 'Strange Guylos Girl" who piloted a Cannon Spider. The idea didn't last (I liked the Black Redler a lot more, and saw the Spide as a little... limiting) but I thought that the idea was too good to go to waste. Thus Laura and the Venom team were born from it

Incidentally, the weapons on the Cannon Spider are the guns from a Cannon Diver.


	7. Some Days, Some Nights

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Seven - Some Days, Some Nights

By Rick R.

oOoOo

Stephen quietly snuck through the undergrowth, looking around for his target. He'd just polished off the enemy soldier with a single shot form his sniper rifle, but he knew that there would be another one around here somewhere. There always was. So his plan was simple. Stay low, sneak around and try to find them before they found him.

So far, the battle had been an odd one. His side had been better deployed, had managed to get the high ground, fielded better weapons and generally knew the terrain better. The other side seemed to have no idea what they were doing. Their soldiers fell prey to easy ambushes, they blundered around the landscape and they seemed to be very poorly equipped.

And yet, they were doing better. Their tactics were... odd. They were doing badly, yet they'd also had a devastating effect on his force. They'd been using very unconventional tactics that had caught him off guard, managing to cut down his forces in ways that he hadn't expected.

But now there was no sign of them. It wasn't good. He knew that there was nowhere that would be safe form them. Up a cliff, behind a waterfall, even inside his own bunker, they had been there for him, somehow. He'd managed to catch one of them in the open, and take them out before they could strike. Now if only he knew where the next one was.

Then he heard a noise, the whining of an electric motor in the distance. He reconised it; the same sound had been the last thing all the others had heard before - He spun around, only to find himself face-to-face with an oncoming buggy. He was struck head on and send flying, his mangled body flopping to the ground some distance away.

"RED TEAM WINS!"

"Yeah!" Tasch called out, holding up the X-Cube controller. "I did it! I won again!"

"Uhh... yeah." Stephen commented, looking at the scoreboard. Tasch had just won her third deathmatch in a row; managing to beat all the others. She'd done rather well for someone who had clearly never played a single game of _Corona_ in her life. Much like the way she piloted her Redler, her play style was unusual. She was terrible with most of the guns; only with a rocket launcher did she ever manage to hit someone, or a machinegun on full auto. But she was devastating with the Buggy.

Not the Buggy's machine gun, no. That'd be too easy. She was devastating with the Buggy itself. She'd get in then proceed to tear around the landscape and run people over. And it didn't matter where you were, she'd somehow manage to get you.

"I'm done." Stephen finished, putting his hands up. "Anyone else?"

"Not me." Neil shook his head. "I'm crap enough as it is. I don't want to face her again."

"Tell ya what." Rose spoke up. "I'll take you on instead, Neil."

"Well, you'll thrash me, but it'll be better then what she'd do." He replied as he walked over to the couch, taking the controller for, Tasch. She stood, and walked over to the bench where she had kept her laptop.

"Remind me, why did we blow all this money on a used X-Cube anyway?" Stephen asked.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess." Rose finished. "Besides, its a good way to waste time and blow off steam."

"Well... yeah." He admitted as he stood, letting her take his place.

"Hey guys" Tasch spoke up before the other two got started. "Someone's sent us an invite." She pointed to a new mail message on her computer's screen.

"Don't open it." Neil commented without even looking. "It's probably spam."

"Naw, it's from the ZBC and all." Tasch continued. "And sure as heck it looks official."

Stephen peered over her shoulder, looking at the screen. "Hmm... it does too." He commented. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Sure. Go ahead." She added.

Stephen took her place, opening up the E-mail. "Aha!" He began. "Looks like its a sponsorship event."

"A wha?" Neil asked.

"Yeah." Stephen bought up the info form the message. "Short version is that its a party of sorts for pilots, held at one of the city's bigger and flashier pubs."

"Party sounds good." Rose commented.

"It's being sponsored by Schleiter Wulf Breweries." He commented. "I suspect that they see it as a chance to push their name around the Zoid warrior community and get some recognition. And if a few Zoid pilots turn out to like their stuff, it's a bonus."

"Well that ain't gonna work." Tasch commented. "Cause I don't drink."

"It's cool, Tasch." Neil commented. "Come along for the atmosphere and the socialising. We'll drink your share."

"I like the sound of it." Rose spoke up. "I figure that the place will be crawling with sponsorship scouts, looking for some names to sing up to push their products." One of the bigger advantages of being an official ZBC Zoid Warrior was a certain degree of fame that came with it. Zoid warriors were, after all, sports stars. Through the sports news, they got their names and faces on television and newspapers across the word - after all Zoid battling was the biggest and most glamorous sport there was. And while there were national and even regional Zoid battling circuits, the ZBC was the biggest and most prestigious orgnaisation.

There were often numerous advantages to this fame. Many pilots had gotten second careers out of doing commercials and product endorsements; be they for shoes, drinks, clothes, food or whatever else. The holy grail, of course, was to do Zoid endorsements; nothing said that you had made it big more then being asked to promote the Zoid that had got you there. Potential sponsors were always out for new faces to push their products, giving them yet another incentive to perform well.

"Events like this were a chance for sponsors to get to meet the warriors and see who could be their next public face." Rose explained. "So this could be a big chance for us to get some recognition."

"You're real big on all this publicity stuff, aren't you?" Neil needled.

"Well, dad managed to land a few great product endorsement deals." He explained. "He met my mum while they were shooting a commercial and hit it off from there." She smiled. "So you could say that I owe everything to such deals."

"Well then yay for the power of capitalisim and market forces then." He smirked.

"Well, I must admit that I like the idea." Stephen concluded. "We can get a little publicity and a lot of drinks, as well as a chance to rub shoulders with other Zoid pilots and get to know them better. And who knows, we may yet pick up something useful from solcialising."

"And it's not like we're ever gonna host a party here." Rose noted. 'Not unless we decided that the theme was sort of industrial grunge and you all had to come in your worst gear."

"Well..." Tasch commented. "You know, I got this old specialty hazmat suit back at home. Its both old and industrial... would that do?"

There was a brief pause. "That would be..." Rose finally spoke up. "It would be very _you, _Tasch."

"You think?"

"Oh yeah. Very distinctive look. Nobody else would think of it."

Tasch considered this and then nodded. "Well that's okay then." She finished. "I might have to get it sent over, jus' in case we ever decide to hold this party."

"...I'm sure it'll be fine." Stephen finished.

"So when is this little shindig happening?" Neil asked.

"This Thursday night." Rose finished. "So that gives us a full day to recover form our hangovers before our next battle."

"Except for me." Tasch added. "I ain't gonna be recovered form my hangover, 'cause I ain't gonna get drunk to start with."

"Your logic is, as ever, flawless." Neil added with a smirk.

oOoOo

Ron McGonnagle sat patiently on the park bench, watching the ducks as they slowly swam around the pond. Unlike a lot of the meetings he took part in, he'd actually arranged this one. He'd seen an opportunity come up, one that he knew his 'associates' would be interested in. Certainly, they'd be interested enough to pay him off for it.

He casually watched a mother and two children by the edge of the pond, then glanced around, doing a routine check for possible ZBC or PKB staff. The park offered a surprising degree of anonymity; people didn't expect you to do this sort of thing in broad daylight. At the same time, however, it paid to be careful. He hadn't gotten this far acting as the NUBG's top source of insider information for nothing.

He spotted Heywood approaching, doing his best to look casual. Casual in this case meant a shirt with buttons that were clearly straining to stay on, baggy pants, a disgusting flannel jacket and a baseball cap. Ron had to admit that the image worked; he didn't look the part of the leader of an illegal Zoid battle orngaisation. Rather, he looked like an overweight, disgusting slob... which wasn't too far from the truth either, actually.

Heywood sat down next to him, Ron noting the food stains down the front of his shirt. _Does he practice at being disgusting, or is it just something that comes naturally to him? _he wondered. "Nice day, isn't it", he causally began.

"Definitely." Heywood replied, looking straight ahead.

Glancing around, Ron could see that he was checking out a pair of sunbathers on the far side of the pond. _Typical. _"A bit of news has come up, one that I felt you might be interested in, given your current interest in one of our teams."

"Do tell."

"There's going to be a big sponsorship event at the Wild Elephander." He began, naming the club. "Most every team in the ZBC are invited, including that one you were watching."

"Huh..." He replied. "Could be good. We could get to know our opponents so to speak. See if we could find out more about them."

"Exactly." Ron stated. "I've heard the buzz; your backers are interested in seeing a ZBC versus NUBG battle sometime soon. I think that the particular team would make excellent opponents for some of your finest."

"They would, yes."

"Especially after what happened with those two pilots of yours." He commented. "I got a look at the PKB's report. There was nothing to definitively link your boys to what happened beyond the two witness statements of what they said. But, at the same time, they found a lot of debris on-site." He commented. "Whatever happened to those two did a very thorough job of it."

"Yeah, well we're still looking into that ourselves." Heywood grunted. "But the betting has certainly picked up as a result."

"And you haven't even secured a battle yet." Ron added. "Still, it would be interesting. Gonna use those two again?"

Heywood shook his head. "Both Zoids are still in the shop. The damage was very extensive."

"I'm surprised the X didn't just use its EMP attack to knock out those two to start with and get it over with."

Heywood glared at him for a second. "X doesn't have an EMP weapon." He began.

Ron blinked, relaising he'd just made a mistake. "I meant the Spiner. Sorry, I was confused for a second."

"Right." Heywood muttered. "So what would it take to get, say, four invites to this little party?"

"I think a fair donation to the retirement fund would go nicely." Ron answered, giving his usual cover. His 'retirement fund' was a special private account that had been lined with bribes from various sources. "Oh, and one other thing too."

"Which is?"

"Tell me what team you're going to be using to whack those guys." Ron finished. "Trust me, I'm gonna be putting a big amount on them."

"Betting against the ZBC?"

"Well..." Ron commented. "Those guys have made my life very difficult, just as they have yours. I'm going to enjoy watching them go down hard."

oOoOo

The Wild Elephander was normally one of the favorite hangouts of ZBC pilots. A large, modern and roomy place, it was run by a former Zoids Battle champion who had named it for his Zoid of choice. The walls were decorated with memorabilia; everything from photos of various Zoids and pilots to pictures of team logos to original registration forms and the like. Many of the pictures were signed by the warriors themselves, and it was considered to be something of an achievement to get your face up there.

The Broken Chairs casually stepped out of their taxi, walking straight up to the front door. After much debate, they'd all decided to go with a 'casual' look for the evening, pretty much going in their standard wear. It didn't help that between them, Neil and Tasch didn't have anything beyond shirts, pants and their pilot suits.

The bouncer gave their invites a quick once over, then let them into the pub. It was already pretty full when they entered, with various Zoid warriors milling about, talking and, form the looks of things, consuming copious amounts of the sponsor's products. "I can see they're getting their money's worth out of this deal." Neil observed. "I figure you'll be the last person standing, Tasch."

"You reckon?" She began.

"Definitely"

"Right, here's the plan guys." Rose began. "Everyone get a drink and mingle. Talk to whoever you can. The more you pick up, the more good you can do our team."

"Being a little pushy, huh?" Neil commented. "Whatever happened to 'have a good time'?"

"Look, guys, this could be our big chance. Let's not blow it." Rose began. "We've got a good hook already, being the rookie team who have managed to get a string of victories despite the odds. It's a great way to get stated."

"Just don't overdo it, Rose." Stephen added. "We're here to have a good time. Getting noticed is a bonus."

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered.

"Come on. You're being a bit too serious about this all." Stephen continued. "Lighten up."

"Did Stephen just tell someone to lighten up?" Neil whispered to Tasch.

"Yep, he did." She replied.

"...true." He realised that he wouldn't get any further. "So come on guys. Drinks and mingles."

Collecting their first round of drinks (Two expensive beers, one light beer and one lemonade) the four of them wandered into the bar, mingling in with the crowd.

"Well lookee here." A voice began as Stephen was slapped on the back. "If it isn't our giant robot monkey friend, Stephen." He turned around to see the source of the voice. Standing there was Miles Slate, the leader of the Firestorm team. He had a beer in his hand, and was looking to be a little tipsy already. "How's it going there, Stephen?"

"Not bad," he began, deciding not to mention what his team had been through in the last two weeks. "Yeah, we're all doing pretty well. And you?"

"Fan-bloody-tastic." He replied. "You shoulda seen our last battle. Four-one against the Lethal weapons; we kicked their arses and beat them down real good." He grinned. "And that was after a four-nil against the Winter Wolves." He grinned. "We rock, Stevie-baby."

"Good to hear." He replied. He had known for some people to get edgy about loosing the odd battle or carry grudges, especially if they blew a winning streak. But so far, Miles seemed to be doing okay. "We've been doing pretty dammed good ourselves; two wins in the last two weeks and all."

"So I heard." He replied. "You beat down them losers in the milk and whatsits team real good." Miles grinned. 'And then, what, three-one against the Venom team, blowing their winning streak out of the water. Pretty good work there."

"Well, thanks."

"'course, I heard that ... what's her name.." He paused for a sec. "Rose, yeah, that was it. Rose got her Liger trashed by a Cannon Spider. Imagine that, huh? Top of the line pointed cat taken out by a crappy little Cannon Spider. You wouldn't have thought it, would you?"

"Well, no." He admitted. _Damn it, he's not going to shut up about that, is he? _Miles had a wedge he could use to needle the team with, in effect getting some degree of leg-up to compensate for their loss.

"Well, you know... these things happen." He continued. "And, well, the Gunsniper and Redler managed to win the battle for you guys in the end, so it's all good."

"True that. I mean, Tasch did manage to finish off the Cannon Spider. She also did a pretty good job against that Koenig Wolf, if I recall."

"Yeah..." He took a siwg form his beer. "But then, I heard you guys have been having some other troubles." He continued.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Miles grinned. "News is the tone of your people got in trouble with the NUBG and now they're gunnin for ya." He took another swig. "I mean, imagine that. A team that have the NUBG after them. BOy, oh boy, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when they come after you."

Stephen tightened his grip around his bottle, trying not to think about it. "Well, the NUBG have been pretty silent. They got two of their Zoids trashed trying to come after us, so maybe they'll leave off. After all, those Zoids are going to be expensive to repair, and in the end, it is all about money."

"I dunno." Miles continued. "I mean, if I was NUBG, that's what I'd do. I'd lie low, pretend that I've lost interest. Then, when my target lest expected it... bam! I'd come up and get them then. And they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it." He took another sip. "Boy, would I hate to be you."

Stephen quietly snarled to himself. Miles was deliberately trying to provoke him, trying to get some bad response. It was the sort of thing that had almost cost him his old job. Instead, he remained as calm as possible. _Remember, out think them._ "Well, I think we can take care of ourselves." He commented.

"You sure about that?" Miles asked. "I mean, I took out your Kong real good."

"Yeah." He casually admitted. "But then, Rose took out your Death Raser pretty easily. And that was the girl who got trashed by a Cannon Spider, as you said." He took another swig form his bottle. "Funny how it works out."

Miles didn't respond, instead finishing off his beer. "Yeah, funny that." He muttered.

"And if Rose got trashed by a Cannon Spider, and you got trashed by her, then what does that say?" Stephen continued.

"Yeah, well..." He turned around. "Hey Eliot!" He called out over the bar. "Another beer here!"

"Sure thing, buddy!" A voice called back over the crowd.

He casually put the bottle aside. "So how about a rematch some day?" He asked, suddenly sounding a lot more serious.

"I'll have to see." Stephen replied. "Both are teams are pretty high up the ladder, and it's not likely that we'll both get into another match." He explained. "Unless we end up on the same amount of points in he last few rounds or something."

"Yeah, well..." he began. "It could happen. And I must admit, I wouldn't mind a rematch against you guys."

_A chance to get some revenge for your loss, right? _"Well, you never know. It could happen." Stephen shrugged. "And it was a close battle last time... maybe this time you guys will make it." He finished, deciding to emphasise the point. _You lost. Admit it._

"Well, yeah." Miles muttered. "Scuse me." He turned around, heading back to the bar where his teammate was waiting with fresh beers.

"Thought so." He finished. _Just after a cheap shot, I guess. Still ,I did well, all things considered._

oOoOo

Of the four members of the Broken Chairs, Neil was the only one who had any real apprehensions about this event. He would have happily admitted that he was not the most sociable of people. In any given party, he was the guy hanging around the back near the snack table, muttering the odd thing and then having another orderve. So this wasn't quite the place for him. And while he knew that everyone here would be another Zoid pilot, that didn't help him much. _What do I do, keep talking about Zoid battles all night?_

Beer in hand, he wandered around, looking for a group to latch onto or, at the very least, some snacks to scarf. So far he hadn't had much luck. _Great. Maybe I'll have to pay for bar snacks. And that should only cost a limb or two._

"Scuse me." A man muttered as he barged past him. Neil got a brief look at the man as he scurried off, recognising him as the Stealth Viper pilot from the Venom Team.

"Wonder where he was going in such a hurry?" He asked himself as he looked around. There was a woman standing nearby with rather big, blatantly coloured red and black hair, who seemed to be searching for someone. Figuring what was going on, he quietly slipped away, deciding to leave them be.

Instead, he walked into another part of the bar, where he immediately spotted the girl who had lead the Venom team. She looked rather different her, her black synth-leather ensemble replaced with a rather plain cardigan and thick-rimmed glasses. She was talking to another girl, a rather attractive young woman with long black hair that sported several brown streaks and dark blue eyes, dressed in an overly tight, belly-baring shirt and rather stretched jeans.

_Wonder who she is? _He asked. _Well, might as well butt in and say 'hi' at least._ He walked over to the pair of them, a weak smile on his face. "Hey." He began. "Laura, from the Venom team, right?"

"Oh hey there." Laura began. "Neil, right? I remember you. You got two of my team... and came up with that brilliant plan."

"Well, Tasch did all the work." He admitted. "I just leached the kills."

"And the XPs too, right?" The black-haired girl asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Laura began. "This is Nadia Sverdolva, from the Iron Giants. She pilots an Elephander."

"Nice to meet you." Neil squeaked out. The Iron Giants were one of the top teams in the ZBC. And Neil had a healthy respect for Elephanders. They were very big. Then something clicked. "Wait, leached the XPs?"

"You know how it goes." Nadia continued. "One guy does all the work and whacks the monster, but they all get an equal share of the experience for it."

"Oh yeah, I know how that goes." He replied, suddenly interested in her. "There was this one guy, we called him agent wallflower. All he ever did was lob the odd rock at passing thugs, then hide when the actual fight began."

Laura nodded. "I had something like that happen in one campaign too. I was paying a barbarian who always went 'me go crazy nuts and whack things now' - and yes, I did do it with a silly voice and all, and smash everything up quick smart. And there was this total wusse of a Gnome who would go 'I'm backing you up! Really!' while he cast his best spell."

"Which was?" Nadia asked.

"Invisibility. Only, he cast it on himself."

"Nice." Neil began. "He didn't do anything, did he? He just cast ran away and showed up when it was time to divvy the loot and XPs, right?"

"Yeppers." Laura smirked. "Course, there was the one time we ran across a Sanggletoothed Hornswallger..."

"...Which see invisible" Neil continued.

"…and can swallow small creatures whole." Nadia finished. "Oh, very nice."

Neil grinned broadly. "So what's your deal with all this?" He asked Nadia.

"Oh, I know Laura from a PBEM game. I'm thinking of staring up a face-to-face one... seeing if i can get inter-team rivalries to translate into tabletop ones.

"Sounds fun." Neil continued. "Need more players?"

"Certainly." Nadia nodded. "So many Zoid warriors are obsessed with being cool that they don't want to play tabletop games... what with them being geek games and all."

"Oh, I know how that goes." Neil nodded, thinking immediately of Rose.

"Heya Neil." Tasch began as she walked over to him, drink in hand. He was glad to see that it was still lemonade. "How's it goin'?"

"Not too bad, actually." He replied. "You remember Laura from the Venom team, I'm sure."

"Good too see y'all again." She said. "Especially after that last battle."

"Ah it's nothing." Laura replied. "We just do what we need to... and you're the one who deserves all the credit after that insane little move you pulled."

"And this is Nadia Sverdolva, from the Iron Giants team." He introduced her. "She pilots an Elephander."

"Elephander huh?" Tasch asked. "The guy who runs this place piloted an Elephander too. Ain't that a coincidence?"

"Funny that." She replied.

"You'll get used to it." Neil added. "Nadia, this is Tasch Stroermer. She's on my team."

"Nice to meet you." Nadia replied. "Hmm... that name... you're not form around here, I can see..." She looked at Tasch's eyes. "You're Nyxian... you're not related to that Gilvader pilot, are you?"

"Why does everyone ask that?" She replied. "'cause I ain't."

"She gests that a lot." Neil added.

"Hey, its that team." Tasch suddenly spoke up as another group stepped in through the front door. "Yeah, the Black Hands."

Looking around, he could see Karl Schnautzer, Bill Peterson and Kuro Onishi stepping into the bar. "Oh great." He muttered. "It's the cheese monkeys."

"More like a bunch of cheese-lovin' surrender monkeys." Tasch commented.

"The what?" Laura began.

"Cheese-lovin' surrender monkeys." Tasch repeated. "'cause they seem to be so good at loosin'."

Nadia burst out laughing at this response. "Wow!" She began. "Oh, great, that is the perfect description for them!" She slapped Tasch on the back. "How'd you think of that?"

"Well..." Tasch commented. "They act like monkeys, they are real cheesy with the rules and they loose a lot." She shrugged. "So they're cheese-lovin' surrender monkeys."

"You possess a very singular wit." She continued. "And having faced them before, I must agree with your nickname for them."

"And it's a very amusing one." Laura added. "Where did you find her?"

"Well, I jus' thought of it, that's all." Tasch replied.

"She does that a lot." Neil added. "In fact, all the time."

"Your lives must be very amusing." Laura noted.

"You have no idea." Neil commented. Then he hoped that Laura didn't extend the gaming invite to Tasch.

oOoOo

Another group of four pilots approached the pub, seemingly indistinguishable from any of the others. Only their leader stood out because of his mode of dress. Whereas most Zoid warriors went for casual wear (and a few for a Pseudo-military look), he was dressed in a rather sharp black suit; he sported a plain black tie, white shirt, black slacks and a black jacket, topped off with black sunglasses. He was rather tall and slim, with sharp, angular features and short, spikey black hair. "Right men, remember the plan. Blend in, gather information and do not draw attention to yourselves." He passed each of the other three a card with an invitation on it.

"Yes, Jean." The woman behind him replied. Almost as tall as he was, she had short-cropped blond hair and narrow steel-grey eyes. Her features, while not as harsh as Jean's, were still rather sharp. She was dressed in a rather plain grey sleeveless top and dull grey pants, a contrast to her leader's attire. "And the ones we're looking for are here?"

"They already arrived, Karen." He replied without looking at her. "I waited until they were inside to move in and limit our exposure."

"What do we do if there's any trouble?" The third member of their group asked. Bigger then Jean, he was very muscular, with dark skin, a goatee beard and long hair worn in several long braids. He was also dressed in a sleeveless shirt, with baggy camouflage pants, as well as sporting a barb-wire tattoo pattern around his arms. "I mean, I know that it's a friendly gathering-"

"And we will keep it that way, Tyrone. I know what you were thinking." He snapped. "And Mortimer, that goes for you too. Do not open your moth any more then is needed."

"Uh, yes, boss." The last member of their group commented. Nearly as tall and slender as Jean, he had somewhat feminine looking features, empasised by his long black hair and grey eyes. He was dressed in a long black coat over a grey shirt and black leather pants, as well as thick combat boots. "Whatever you say."

"Now be quiet." Jean finished as they approached the doorman. He showed them their invitations, the group stepping into the pub behind another group. "And go to work." He finished. The four of them split up, heading off in different directions. Jean himself went straight to the bar, collecting a drink before he began his work.

Walking over to one side of the room, he noticed one of the targets immediately. Probably the most distinctive of them with her striking good looks and numerous tattoos, she was also the one who had inadvertently started all this. _Well, that was not true_, he thought. _It was that idiot Mychelle who actually was the root of all this. _He'd never liked her, seeing her as an underage piece of fluff that had no place in the NUBG, only favored by Heywood for her looks. _That's not going to do her any good now._

He could see that the woman was talking to someone, a long-haired man. He decided that this would be an excellent opportunity, and listen in closer to what she was saying.

"So that's her up there." She began as she pointed out a photo. Looking up, he could see that it was a picture of Violet O'Bannon, a former champion. The pilot had darker hair then Rose that she wore differently, but the resemblance between the two was clear. "And that's her Zero Phoenix, I guess."

"I see..." The man replied, turning around. Jean recognised him as Drake Storm, a one-time top contender and now a member of a team. Their two teams had clashed recently, Jean finding the battle rather interesting. "I fought her in the finals in her championship year. It was a very... exhilarating match."

_I wonder if there's a connection there between them, _he thought, _Something more then two Zoid pilots. It wouldn't be hard to believe. _Both were young, talented and attractive. He had a lot of respect for Storm's skills, and was impressed by what he had seen of the younger O'Bannon.

"I saw the match live." Rose commented. "You did rather well, all things considered, what with her having a Fuzor and all."

"She was still the superior pilot." He shook his head. "I was outmatched by her. Still, it was a very close battle and a great challenge."

"Don't sell yourself short." She continued. "You did pretty well."

"And so have you." Drake offered. "I've seen your battles. You have shown a lot of skill as a pilot. And while I will say that you do lack experience, its not as bad as it seems; you've shown a lot of potential. I think that with experience, you and the others in your team, could be quite formidable."

"You really think so?"

_Interesting, _Jean thought. _Definitely ones to keep an eye on. _He began to formulate plans and strategies in his head as he continued to observe them. _This should prove to be a most interesting battle._

oOoOo

Aside from socilaising and drinking, the bar had been fitted with several other sources of entertainment (as well as providing more ways to get money out of pockets). Besides the usual pinball machine and a small room of slot machines, its centerpiece was a top-of-the-line virtual reality combat game. The latest in the _Swordfighter Pro _series. The game had become very popular for its customisation which allowed the players to in essence, create their own characters and use whatever fighting style they wished.

So far tonight, the machine had been dominated by a single man. Akira from the Renegade Legion had so far managed to cleave a virtual bloody path through a number of other members of the ZBC, having racked up a considerable number of victories without even a scratch. Many found this amusing, given that he was on what was considered to be a looser team. Porshca and "Chopper" Dave, two of his teammates had been especially enjoying the show; the pair of them had been running bets on him all night.

Akira stepped down from the machine for a second, sitting down next to them. "Well.." He panted out. "I think I'm done for now."

"Have a drink." Porscha replied as she handed him a bottle of overpriced water. "You're doing great."

"Don't give up now." Dave added. "There are still plenty of other mugs for us to go through."

"Us?" He asked. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing." Porscha replied, shooting a withering glare at Dave. "You're doing great, really."

"I'm not sure. I think I need a break." He shook his head.

A figure approached the three of them. Taller then any of them, he had spiked black hair and a muscular build that was empasised by the skin-tight blue suit he was wearing. "I hear you're some master virtual swordsman." e began.

"I have that reputation, yes." Akira admitted.

"I wish to challenge you to test your skills." He replied. "You may have defeated all other comers so far, but I think that i will provide a better opponent."

"...who are you?" Porscha asked.

"Don't you know me?"

"Nope." Dave offered.

The man sighed. "I am Slash, the leader of the Black Hands team and the master of the Blade liger."

"Hey, we fought you a round ago." Dave spoke up. "We actually won that match."

Slash snarled as Akira stood. "Very well then." He began. "Slash, I will fight you. I am interested in seeing your true skill."

The pair of them inserted their data disks into the machine, then donned the headsets and gloves that were a part of the system. The gloves helped transmit their movements to the system, while the headsets allowed them to perceive the completely computer-generated world as if it were real. As the system booted up, Porscha turned to the small crowd around them. "Akira versus Slash! Come on people, place your bets!"

The program loaded up their virtual personas. Both of them had used their own appearance as a basis, but with different attire. Akira was dressed in a traditional red kimono or whatever it is with a black trim. In his hand, he held a rather plain looking katana. By comparison, Slash's outfit was rather distinctive. He was dressed in a rather bizarre blue and black bodysuit with a plunging neckline and mesh sleeves. The lower half of his face was hidden by a blue mask, while his arms sported lengthy ties with gold ends. He retained his bright red headband, while also sporting innumerable buckles along his legs. He carried an overly-elaborate, detailed Katana in each hand.

"READY?" The system announced. "FIGHT!"

It was over in an instant. It seemed like Akira hadn't moved; one moment he was in his ready stance, the next, he was standing with his back to Slash's, partially crouched with his sword out behind him. Slash turned around, then keeled over onto his side.

"BATTLE OVER! AKIRA JET WIN!"

"Hooyeah!" Poscha called out, then burst out laughing as she collected money. "Oh, Akira, your performance was excellent!"

"And he did good with the sword too." Dave added.

"You cheat!" Slash called out as he pulled of the headset. "It's obvious what you've done. You've cheated... you put in a code or altered the system to allow yourself to win so easily!"

"I have done no such thing." Akira replied. 'However if you wish for a rematch, I will be glad for one."

"No way!" He replied. "I'm not going up against a cheat like you!" He finished as he walked off.

"Sure thing... looser!" Porscha called out. "You hear me, you looser!"

"Excuse me." Another woman cut her off. "I would like to fight him if possible."

The three of them turned to face the newcomer. "Certainly." Akira replied. "I will gladly take you on ms..."

"Karen Hildebrand." She replied as she inserted her disk into the system. "I've been watching you fight. I think that this could be enjoyable." She finished as she donned her gear.

The virtual world activated again, Akira still wearing the same outfit. Karen's attire surprised him, however. She was dressed in chain mail armour, with metal gauntlets, and plates over several areas, with a white tabard covering much of her body. She held a rather large, broad-bladed sword in both hands. This surprised him; most people seemed to prefer Asian styles of sword fighting; those who preferred European styles usually went for fencing.

"READY?" The system announced. "FIGHT!"

Akira found that he was rather unprepared for her style. She managed to make good use of her weapon's longer blade, managing to keep out of his reach. Her own strikes, however, were quite incredibly powerful. She swung down towards him, giving him only the barest of chances to deflect her blade. The two clashed with a loud clang, the weight of the sword and the force of the blow forcing his blade downwards. Karen grinned for a moment, then thrust forwards.

"BATTLE OVER! KAREN HILDERBRAND WIN!" Chopper and Porscha just looked on in mute horror.

"Well done." Akira began as he took off the goggles. "I was quite impressed."

She nodded. "And you did very well too. You gave me quite a workout there. We'll have to have a rematch some day."

"I look forward to it." He finished as they both collected their data. "Until then."

Karen nodded and walked off. Akira sighed and turned back to his teammates, then noted the looks on their faces. "What's wrong with you two?" He asked.

oOoOo

Besides its main room, the bar sported several outside areas for its customers. one of them a verandah separate form the rest of the bar, had earned the nickname of the Cancer Lounge for being the only place where patrons were allowed to smoke. As a result, it had become the home for the night of a number of ZBC warriors.

Mortimer McSmith was a member of the NUBG, but for tonight had to pretend that he was a part of the ZBC in order to get more info n a ZBC team. The very thought of being a ZBC pilot grated on him; he saw them as weak-minded cowards who couldn't handle themselves in a real fight, unlike a proper warrior. He was a proper warrior in his mind, one who risked his life in real military conditions and wasn't held back by their stupid rules and restrictions. Or at least, that's what he liked to think.

The truth was, when Rose called the NUBG's members "low life criminal scum who think they're tough", she might as well have been referring to him. Mortimer was the sort who got his thrills off doing "bad" things, seeing himself as being better simply because he was a member of NUBG. He'd never shot at another pilot's cockpit before and he'd never had someone shoot straight at his. But, because he thought the danger was there, he felt tough.

He stepped out into the Cancer Lounge where there were several ZBC pilots drinking and smoking. The nearest one of them was a large, barrel chested man with short-cropped blond hair, who was smoking a thick cigar. Taking out one of his own cigarettes, he approached the man. "'scuse, can I get a light?" He asked, figuring this to be the best way to get the ball rolling.

He lit his cigarette off the man's expensive-looking metal lighter, then inhaled. After coughing and hacking up what seemed like half a lung, he turned back to the man. "Thanks for that." He gasped out. "Mortimer McSmith."

"CK, leader of the Renegade Legion." He replied. "This is my pal, Hendrick." He indicated towards a large, overweight man with a shaved head and small eyes who was also sporting a thick cigar.

"Leader of the Black Warriors." Hendrick added. "We were just talking about the various teams we'd faced so far this season, comparing notes and all. We've been round a few times, so we were looking at comparisons to other teams we've fought."

_What an opportunity! _Mortimer thought. _This is exactly what I'm here for! _He nodded. "So you guys ever heard of a team called the Broken Chairs?"

Hendrick nodded. "Yeah, I heard of them. My tem fought 'em back in the first round. They were... decent." He rolled his cigar between his fingers. "Just decent, I'd say."

"I see.." Mortimer considered this. "So what did they do?"

"The usual sorta crap you get outa kids these days." Hendrik shrugged. "They run around, show off and try to look all cool and crap like that." He finished, then took another drag off his cigar. "Nothing too special, really."

"Right" Mortimer nodded. "So... easy opponents?"

"I wouldn't say easy, no." He replied. "I'd more say that they were average. Just average though."

"About the same as the Firestorm team, actually." CK added. "They were pretty average opponents too."

"And when those two fought, it was close." Hendrick finished. "So it makes sense, they're an average team."

"Thanks for that." Mortimer said, noting their comments. He figured that Jean would find this to be very interesting. Stubbing out his cigarette, he headed back into the bar. Tyrone was waiting just inside the door, leaning against the frame. "How's it going there?" He asked.

"This place is a total bust." Tyrone replied. "I mean, I feel like I just wanna go crazy and punch someone out, you know? Maybe show some of these ZBC losers a lesson thing or two about how we do things in the NUBG."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Mortimer replied. "I think we could take anyone in this place easy."

"No kiddin'." He nodded. "Damn it, Jean said for us not to cause trouble. What the hell am I meant to do in a place like this surrounded by all these wusses?"

"Don't worry about it." He replied. "I got us some good info. We can see Jean, report what we got, then get the hell outa here."

"Good." Tyrone nodded. "Man, I hope we got to actually take those guys on. That ought to be real fun, pounding the living crap out of them."

"Damn right it will be." Mortimer replied, and grinned.

oOoOo

Jean was still at the bar, watching the various members of the target team as they moved through the bar, patiently observing their actions. He was learning more about them through their conversations and the way they acted, while assessing their abilities and looking for weaknesses that he could exploit. It was early days so far, but it was a start.

Right now, he was observing the Redler pilot as she was ordering drinks while carrying on a rather disjointed and nonsensical conversation with someone else at the bar. He had found her to be particularly interesting; she had proven to be very hard to read, with Jean unable to get a good grip on her personality so far. But that wasn't what had really caught his attention. It was her eyes. He could tell from her odd greenish-yellow eyes that she was from the Dark Continent. Tat struck him, there were very few Nyxian pilots in the ZBC.

_This bears closer watching, _he thought. _Nyxian and with that name. I wonder if-_

"Jean Templar?" A woman's voice began from behind him began, interrupting his thoughts. "Is that you?"

_Damn it. _He turned around, glancing at the woman behind him, and almost immediately recognised her. "Oh, its you..." He began. "I didn't expect to meet you here."

She shrugged. "Well, former champ and all, I felt I should be here." She said. "And how about you? I haven't seen you since that last time in that little Blood Pit in Darklonia. I had a Great Saber and you had..." She trailed off.

"It has been a while yes..." He replied. "I heard you were the champion. Well done there."

"Thanks." She smiled. "And what have you been up to, Jean?"

"Keeping busy..." He started. "And damn it, I have to be going. But it's been good to see you again."

"You too." She finished. "Hope to see you again soon." She grinned at him, a broad, toothy grin.

Jean nodded at her, then barged his way through the crowd to the door. As he stepped outside, he pulled out his cellphone, quickly dialing a number. "Karen, its Jean." he hissed. "I've been made. Collect Mortimer and Tyrone and get out of there now!" He quickie stashed the phone, then walked away form the bar, trying to look casual while checking over his shoulder. _This... complicates matters, _he thought as he walked.

oOoOo

Like the battle against the Venom team, the Broken Chairs' scheduled battle for this round was being held outside of the arenas. Instead, it was being held in a dry lakebed well outside the city. The Broken Chairs had hired a pair of Gustavs to haul their Zoids out to the battlefield, the battle against the Venom Team having proved exactly why they were a good idea.

Everyone had been in a pretty good mood after the party; the night had gone off well with everyone having a good time. "So, guys." Rose began, sitting behind the drivers seat of one of the Gustavs. "How are we all feeling about this one?"

"Pretty good." Stephen replied from the cockpit of the other one. "The Dark Panzers are an experienced team, but their gear isn't as good as ours. And if we can take out the Gordos, then they don't have anything that can take out my Kong, at least not easily."

"Admit it, Rose. You're still hyper over that party." Neil spoke up, sitting in the cockpit of his Gunsniper which was in turn riding on the trailer. "I know you had a good time."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." She admitted.

"I wonder if Drake felt that way about things..." He added, then smirked. "After all, you were practically glued to him all night."

"Hey!" She called out. "We were just talking that's all."

"Yeah, like you were with those two girls." Tasch added, also in the cockpit of her Zoid. "You were talkin' to them all night."

"Soooo Neil." Rose replied. "Two Girls? What were you up to?"

"I..." He began. "Well, I, uh.."

"Okay, people, that's enough." Stephen replied. "But it was a good night. Let's just stay focused and pay attention."

The two Gustavs arrived at the edge of the battlefield and halted. The pilots manned their Zoids, stepping off their platforms and looking around as they walked onto the designated arena for the battle. There were a few dry, dead trees nearby with a veritable forest to the south of them, but not that much else. The lakebed itself was pretty much flat and open with nowhere to hide, much like the regular arenas.

"Nice place." Neil commented. "Do they hold fights in spots like this just because they know there's nothing for us to wreck?"

"Hey, where's the other team?" Tasch asked. "I can't see 'em anywhere."

"Maybe they're running late." Rose commented. "They could have gotten held up or something like that."

"Or maybe... maybe they got lost here." Tasch added. "Like they took a wrong turn and have wandered out into the desert... never to be seen again."

"Don't worry about it." Stephen spoke up. "They'll be here."

"And if they don't show, then we win by default." Neil added. "So its a bonus either way."

"Hang on, guys." Tasch spoke up again. "I think I see something comin' through the trees. Maybe they aren't lost in the desert after all."

A pair of Zoids stepped out of the forest, striding onto the battlefield. The first was a massive Gojulas that towered over even the Iron Kong. Its gigantic frame bristled with weaponry, but the most notable were the twin Supercannons affixed to its shoulders. Next to it was a second Zoid, a white and blue Liger with a gold crest on its head and a large blade folded across its back.

"What's that thing?" Neil asked.

"It's..." Tasch looked down to her display, reading it off. "It's an Unevenness Shark Liger!"

"I've heard of it." Rose spoke up. "It's another wild Liger derivative, like the Zero. It's called a Murasame Liger."

"That's what I said!" Tasch called out.

"This isn't right..." Stephen commented. "This does not match with the info we got from the ZBC on the Dark Panzers."

"What's going on then?" Neil asked.

A third Zoid joined the other two, a bizarre and sinister looking Lord Gale. "What is going on is that the NUBG are taking over this battle." The pilot began. "Your team will fight mine - under NUBG rules. The winner and his team get to walk away."

"And what if we refuse to fight you?" Rose called out. "You creeps can't make us fight."

"Yes, my dear, I can." He replied, the Lord Gale letting out a loud gurgling growl. a pair of forms emerged form the tree line on either side of the battlefield. each one of them a squat, dull-red, silver and black quadruped. The two Zoids looked even more bizzare then the Lord Gale; less a whole Zoid and more of a mess of parts from different ones. "These two Zoids are the reason why. They are here to enforce the battle. If you choose to run, I will set them on you and you will have to face them and my team. If you attack them, then I will set them on you. If you leave the battlefield for whatever reason before the outcome is determined, then I will set them on you."

"And, unlike us, the Chimera Dragon has no mercy, no compassion, no scruples. They will fight until you are destroyed, or they are. If your team wins, then I will withdraw them and allow you to leave." The Lord Gale glared out at the other Zoids. "Do you accept my offer?"

"We don't seem to have much of a choice." Neil commented. "We get to fight you guys if we say yes, and fight you guys and the Chimeras if we say no."

"I can't raise the ZBC." Stephen added. "So we can't call for help."

"And there are only three of them. I think that we could take them." Rose began. "At least, if the Chimeras don't get involved."

"Yeah, but it's NUBG." Neil added. "How do we know the Chimeras won't get involved anyway?"

"Well, we know they will get involved if we don't fight, and we think they will get involved if we do fight." Tasch spoke up. "So it makes the most sense to fight and hope they don't get involved."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Tasch is right." Rose finished. "I say we go for it. We don't have much of a choice otherwise."

"That's true." Stephen finished. "Very well then. We will battle you."

"Excellent." The Lord Gale's pilot finished.

A small drone, resembling a ZBC remote monitor flew over the battlefield. "The Crimson Claw versus the Broken Chairs." The electronic voice of the battle monitor began, a lot deeper and menacing sounding then the ZBC drone. "NUBG rules: No restrictions. Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

No sooner had the judge spoken, then a streams of golden light burst from out of thin air behind the Broken Chairs Zoids. The energy shots tore through the housing for the Iron Kong's Imperial Hyperbeam Cannon, ripping the weapon apart. "Scatter, now!" Stephen called out, the Iron Kong launching into the air on its boosters away from its unseen attacker. The Gunsniper and Liger Zero both burst into runs, while the Redler simply launched itself into the air.

"Hey!" Tasch called out as she looked down. She could see a shape blurring as it chased after their Zoids. "It's a Shadow Fox! It snuck up behind us!" She yelled over the communicator.

"You rotten cheat!" Stephen called out. "You never said anything about there being a Shadow Fox."

"I didn't need to." the Lord Gale pilot replied as his Zoid took to the air. "You should have assumed that I would be smart enough not to fight you at uneven odds. And besides, these are NUBG rules. There are no restrictions on what you can do; the only rule is that the winner takes all."

On the ground, the Murasame Liger burst into a run, heading towards the fleeing Zoids. The Shadow Fox, its optical camolfage less capable now that it was in motion, also closed in on them form behind. The Gojulas, on the other hand, remained in one place, not moving. Instead, it simply opened fire with its Supercannons the instant that Stephen's Iron Kong landed from its jump.

He slammed his feet down on the thrusters, the Iron Kong leaping into the air again and suddenly swerving sideways just before the shots landed. The blasts tore up the ground where his Zoid had been, shaking it in flight and showering it with dirt and debris. The Iron Kong landed in a very unsteady looking crouch, barely having time to recover before the Shadow Fox ran at it. The smaller Zoid opened fire again, shots from the Vulcan cannon tearing into the Iron Kong's shoulder. Both the impacts and the landing jarred Stephen, throwing him against the side of the Zoid's cockpit.

Stephen grunted as he opened up the throttle, the Iron Kong loping away from the Shadow Fox. "Plan!" He called out. "Rose, try to tie up the Murasame Liger so I can get close to that Gojulas and take it out. Neil, see if you can at least distract the Shadow Fox."

"Oh sure." He replied. "He's got it all over me as it is."

"I need it, Neil. If I can take out the Gojulas, then we'll have a huge advantage. And the pair of you, both keep moving so he can't get you with the Supercannons!" He continued. "And Tasch..." He glanced up at the Redler which was twisting and turning its way through the Lord Gale's fire. "Uh, just keep at it."

He activated the boosters again as the Gojuals opened fire with the Supercannons once more. The Iron Kong was more successful this time, managing to completely avoid the blast, and actually managing to close the distance between the two Zoids to a degree. It wasn't much, but it was a start. As long as he kept moving and got very lucky, they might just have a chance.

oOoOo

Rose had opened up the Zero's throttle all the way, springing away form where she figured the Supercannon shots were going to land. Her plan was rather simple; try to get closer to the Gojulas where it couldn't use the big guns. Of course, she figured that this meant it could just use its smaller weapons, but she could deal with that. It was those big guns, which had the power to knock her Zero out of action in one blast that she didn't want to deal with.

Besides, she figured, if she got close to the Gojulas, then she could get a shot at knocking it out of action. And if the Gojulas was knocked out of action, then things would go a lot better for the team. Unfortunately, the enemy team's leader seemed to have thought of that as well.

As she sprinted across the dry lakebed, she spotted the Murasame Liger running towards her. The enemy machine was clearly screening the Gojulas from attacks, and its pilot was probably looking to take her out. The Zoid was moving faster then her own Zero, she noted, and wasn't using any boosters. Instead, it was relying just on its own running speed. _So it's fast, _she thought. _Let's see how agile it is._

The hilt of the Murasame's blade swung around, opening fire with a pair of beam cannons concealed within it. The shots peppered the ground around the Zero's feet, but didn't hit the Zoid. Rose wasn't expecting it to; she figured the enemy pilot was trying to either throw her off or distract her.

_Ain't gonna work, _she thought. The Zero turned straight towards the Murasame Liger, Rose squeezing off the trigger on the Impact cannon. The shots streaked towards the enemy Zoid, which managed to leap out of the way. The shots blasted into the ground behind it, sending chunks of dried mud flying. The Murasame Liger retaliated with a shot form its own impact cannon, which Rose only narrowly avoided.

The Murasame's blade swung out to attack, the Zoid roaring as it charged forwards and leaped at her to strike. Yanking on the controls, Rose managed to swerve the Zero out of the path of the blade, her own Zoid leaping away form the attack. As she leaped, she opened fire with the tail cannon, the shots blasting into the Murasame's side.

The enemy Zoid landed and swung around rather quickly, managing to put itself on right behind her Zoid. The Murasame broke into a run, opening fire again with the Impact Cannon. This time the shots struck home, slamming Rose's Zero in the back. Her Zoid stumbled, lurching forwards as it ran. Rose grabbed the control stick, trying to bring the Zero under control before-

The Murasame leapt at her again, its claws outstretched and fangs bared. It crashed down on the Zero's back, he two Zoids rolling over and crashing to the ground. Checking her monitors, Rose could see that the Murasame had dig into the Zero's body, and didn't plan on letting go... _Unless..._ In desperation, Rose fired the Zero's boosters again. The thrust from the boosters slammed into the Murasame's underside, causing the Zoid to roar out in shock. At the same time., the Zero stumbled forwards, rolling over and sending the Murasame crashing to the ground.

Rose was slammed into the side of the cockpit as her Zoid rolled over, bouncing on its side. Managing to wrest control of the stick. she managed to get her Zoid to its feet, just as the other Liger also got up. For a moment, the two Zoids stood, snarling angrily at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Then, abruptly, the two of them ran at each other again, their Zoids snarling at each other. The Murasame liger swung at Rose's Zero with the blade, aiming to slice straight through it. She managed to swerve the Liger out of the path of the attack again, only to be spiked in the side by the Murasame's tail blade as she ran past it.

Her own Liger turned around, trying to slash at the Murasame with its strike laser claws. The Claws sliced through the Murasame's flank, shredding the armour over its shoulder but not doing anything more then superficial damage to the Zoid. The Murasame swung around with the blade again, Rose managing to leap away form the Zoid before it could strike.

Her Zero landed in a crouch on the other side of the Murasame, turning as quickly as it could to face the other Zoid. Again she ran at it, ready for another Strike Laser Claw attack. The Murasame reacted quickly, swerving out of the way of her attack then swinging back with its own claws. Seeing what was about to happen, Rose managed to leap out of the way of the enemy Zoid's attack.

_This is nuts, _she thought. _We're that close to each other. What the hell am I meant to do about this guy? _She had one plan, and that was to simply keep close where he couldn't maneuver the main blade. Of course, that didn't really help her any, as the pilot seemed to be pretty good with the Strike Laser Claws as well. _Which means that neither of us has a real advantage here. It's just going to come down to whoever gets lucky first._

She sized up the other Liger as it stared her down. _And that doesn't sound too good._

oOoOo

"How do I let myself get talked into this kind of thing?" Neil asked as his Gunsniper ran towards the partially-visible Shadow Fox. The enemy Zoid was faster and more agile then his, and possessed better melee weapons. And while he carried more firepower, he knew what the Laser Vulcan could do to his Zoid's thin armour. The Fox also wasn't showing up on his sensors, which meant that he couldn't use his missiles against it.

So that left him stuck with what was almost inevitably always his main battle plan. He ran at the Shadow Fox, firing the Gunsniper's twin wrist cannons at the enemy Zoid. Several shots struck its side, managing to get the enemy pilot's attention. Neil had a pretty good idea of what would happen next, and swerved his Zoid out of the Fox's expected line of fire.

To his surprise, the Fox's pilot fired off the Zoid's smokescreen as the Zoid ran away from him, enveloping it in a cloud of dense black smoke. The Zoid sprinted away, leaving both the Gunsniper and the Iron Kong behind. "Hey!" Neil called out. "Come back here!" He was instantly worried by what was going on. Why the hell would a Shadow Fox run away from a Gunsniper, especially a Gunsniper that was in the open and couldn't snipe at him.

As far as he could figure out, it meant one of two things. Either first, the Shadow Fox's pilot had some plan; he may have been trying to get away from Neil to go after either Stephen or Rose, both of which already had their hands fill. Or, he could have been aiming to get Tasch in a crossfire and knock her out of action, this freeing up their air support.

Or he could be an idiot. Neil hoped for the latter.

The Fox continued to head away at speed, laying down a wall of smoke between itself and the Gunsniper. Between the smoke and its Stealth systems, Neil knew that he had no chance at all of locating the enemy Zoid. So instead he tried something else. The Gunsniper opened fire with its two wrist cannons, spraying shots into what he figured was the head of the black smoke cloud where the Shadow Fox presumably would be.

His shots seemed to have some effect; the Fox suddenly turned around and burst out from the smoke cloud, running back at his Zoid at high speed. The pilot opened fire with the Vulcan on its back, less shooting at Neil as repeating his own plan of spraying shots in the general vicinity of the target. A shot grazed the Gunsniper's leg, momentarily staggering it but not doing any more then armour damage.

Neil was more worried about what was about to come. He opened fire, spraying shots at the Fox again as it continued to run at him. This time the pilot seemed a little more capable, managing to evade the bulk of what Neil set at him. The Fox ran at his Zoid, clearly preparing for a laser claw attack. Neil swerved the Gunsniper out of the path of the Fox as it charged, the Strike Laser Claws neatly scything through the air where the Gunsniper had been.

Rather then following up, the Fox broke into a run the instant it landed, again sprinting away from the Gunsniper. Neil scurried out of the Zoid's path, firing a few stray follow up shots, more to keep it away. The Fox's pilot didn't seem to care, instead sprinting off to hide in the dispersing smoke cloud.

"Well, fine then." Neil muttered. "Run away from me. See if I care." Actually, he did care. The Fox may have been trying to loose him so it could go after one of the others. "Damn me and my sense of responsibility." He muttered as the Gunsniper ran after the Fox.

The enemy Zoid pivoted the Vulcan back to face him, again opening fire with the cannon. Neil swerved the Gunsniper, the Zoid performing a strange, almost dance-like series of hops and skips as he tried to avoid the enemy pilot's fire. Grunting as the Zoid skipped around, he scurried to one side of the Fox. Again, the enemy Zoid chose to run rather then fight, vanishing into the smoke cloud.

"Okay, who is this idiot?" Neil asked himself. "And, more to the point, why am I complaining?"

oOoOo

As soon as the battle had begun, Tasch knew exactly what she had to do. The enemy team had an airborne Zoid, which meant that she had to knock it out of action. She knew exactly what a flying Zoid could do for a battle, and the sort of damage it could wreak if it was not opposed. And as the pilot of the only flying Zoid on her team, she was responsible for stopping it.

It was doubly important, she figured, because the enemy Zoid's pilot was apparently their leader. Not only was he their air support, but he was also in command. That meant, as near as she could figure, that eliminating him would be a big boost to her team. So she had to knock him out or, at the very least, keep him busy in order for them to win their battle.

"Okay, Tasch." She muttered to herself. "You got to get it together. You got to do this." She was more nervous now then she had been before her first battle back in the tryouts. This was her first ever real dogfight; while she'd had plenty of simulator time and even some mock dogfights, this was the first one for real. It was made worse by the fact that her opponent was an NUBG pilot and, as such, would not hold back form aiming at her cockpit or other such things. She knew that her life was at risk here. But at the same time, she knew that she couldn't back down from this.

The Redler sped towards the Lord Gale at high speeds, rapidly closing in on the enemy Zoid. She lined it up in her sights, opening fire with the twin beam cannons on the Zoid's wings. The Lord Gale was ready for this however, twisting and turning its way through her shots, using its considerable agility to evade her fire. The enemy Zoid retaliated, firing off the quad cannons on its right forearm.

Tasch stomped on the foot pedals, twisting them herd to the left. The Redler swerved out of the Lord Gale's line of fire, climbing away from the other Zoid as the flexible boosters swung around, then snapped back to their default position. "Now I got ya." Tasch began as she dived on the Lord Gale from above and behind it, the best place for a kill. She squeezed the trigger, opening fire with the twin beam cannons.

Again the Lord Gale managed to roll away from her, twisting around in flight to bring its claw arm up, then opening fire with its beam cannons again. The enemy Zoid sprayed shots at the Redler, several of which slammed into its body and sides. Tasch yanked back on the control stick, the Redler swerving out of the line of fire of the other Zoid, managing to evade the rest of the volley. As she slewed the thrusters around, she opened fire again, shooting rather off bore. The Lord Gale reacted quickly, twisting to avoid the shots while managing to keep her in its sights.

She bought the boosters back to the center again, firing them up to full thrust while climbing away form the Lord Gale. The Redler was already faster then it, and with the boosters, she gained a lot of acceleration as well. Unfortunately, the Lord Gale was more agile, and had other advantages. Its Blox construction meant that its body was a lot more flexible, and its arm-mounted guns had a much wider degree of movement.

A quick evaluation also told her that getting close to the Lord Gale wasn't a good idea either. The Zoid's two large lances and scissor-like claws were more then a match for her Redler's claws and tail blade. Furthermore, as they were also mounted on the arms, they were a lot more mobile then her melee weapons.

"Dangit." She muttered. "Why do ya'll have to be so nasty?" She bought the Redler around again, diving towards the oncoming Lord Gale, and opening fire with her beam cannons. One of the shots scored the armour on the Lord Gale's shoulder, but it managed to weave its way through her shots. She broke away before the Lord Gale opened fire, the Redler's boosters veering around to quickly boost it out of the path of the other Zoid.

"Okay, so his left side's his blind spot... an' his guns are not as long-ranged as mine." Tasch observed as the Lord Gale swung around to face her. "Right. I think I got somehtin' there." She knew what his weaknesses were. Now all she needed to do was figure some way to exploit them.

The Lord Gale climbed towards her Zoid, opening fire again with its twin cannons. The Redler twisted and weaved its way through the enemy Zoid's fire, managing to make it through unscathed. She opened fire in retaliation, the Lord Gale managing to swerve out of the way of her shots. The enemy Zoid dashed towards hers, its twin lances outstretched to impale her Zoid. Yelping in surprise, she pulled back on the stick and twisted the boosters, the Redler again swerving out of the enemy Zoid's way.

"Okay..." She began as she climbed away form the Lord Gale again. "I Know what I gotta do. Now I just gotta get a chance to do it."

oOoOo

Stephen grunted as the Iron Kong again took to the air, leaping out of the way of another pair of blasts from the Gojulas Cannons. The weapons were yet to hit his Zoid, but there had been a number of close calls. And while he had gotten close to the enemy Zoid, he was still a long way from where he wanted to be.

The Iron Kong landed with a bone-jarring thud, Stephen opening up the throttle as soon as he was down. The huge Zoid thundered across the dry lakebed, knuckling its way towards the Gojulas as fast as possible. Checking his status board, Stephen could see that he still had all four of his heavy tactical missiles left. And while they were easily able to outrange the cannons, he needed a chance to stop and launch them; one that the Gojulas wasn't going to give him.

What he needed was a bit of cover so he could launch. The forests on either side of the battlefield would provide that cover, but he suspected that, if he tried to use them, the enemy team leader would declare him to be out of bounds and, more to the point, set the Chimera Dragons on him and the rest of the team.

The Gojulas could keep firing with impunity, able to hammer him at long range. With the Murasame Liger in front of him and the Shadow Fox behind him, there was an effective screen to keep him occupied and help line him up for the Gojulas cannons. And about the only thing that would stop the Gojulas form opening up on him was if he got too close to it or one of the other members of the team. The former was unlikely due to the supercannons, and the latter was not going to happen due to how fast and agile those two were.

He needed to get up close to the Gojulas and try to kill it in hand to hand combat. The Iron Kong was very potent in close combat, thanks to its strength, agility and the sheer power of the Iron Hammer Knuckles. Problem was, the Gojulas was still very dangerous up close; it was surprisingly agile and was very strong, its fangs especially so. And the Gojulas could use its secondary weapons at point blank range, giving it and advantage.

He launched the Iron Kong into the air again as the Gojulas rippled off another volley from its cannons. The massive Zoid leaped forewords as the ground behind it blasted apart, twisting away form the impact. After a few moments, it slammed down onto the ground in a crouch, again breaking into a knuckling run. _I can't keep this up forever, _he thought. _Sooner or later, the Gojulas will get lucky. _Checking the monitors, he could see that the enemy Zoid may not even need that; both engines were already wandering into overheat territory from too much use.

_What I need is some cover, or some way to take that thing out up close. Now how to get it... _He checked his scope, noting the relative positions of both his team's Zoids and the enemy units. He couldn't locate the Shadow Fox, but he was getting a good idea from Neil's location. An idea began to form in the back of his head; it was desperate but it may just work. _I have been talking to Tasch too much if I'm considering this. But then... would they expect it?_

"Rose!" He called out over the communicator. "Can you keep the Murasame contained for a little longer?"

"Contained?" She asked. "How so?"

"Pin it down; keep it where it is." He replied. "I think I have a plan."

"Well sure." She replied. "Neither of us are going anywhere fast... We're both more focused on poking each other then anything else."

"Perfect." He finished. "Just hold on for about a minute."

"No problem." Rose muttered angrily. "Anything else I can do while I'm here?"

"Trust me, its fine." He shook his head, keeping an eye on the Gojulas. The Zoid shuddered as its twin supercannons belched fire, the brilliant purple plasma energy balls sailing through the air. Again he fired the jets, leaping away form the shot, but now heading towards their source, rather then to either side. The Kong climbed into the air on twin thermonuclear flames, leaping higher then it had previously.

"Now Rose!" He called out. "Move!"

"Right!" She yelled back. The Zero turned from the Murasame Liger, bolting away at speed.

The enemy Zoid, is pilot momentarily confused as to what was happening, turned to face her, swinging out the blade to use the cannons. It wasn't until it was too late that she saw why Rose had run off. The massive Iron Kong dropped out of the sky, smashing into the Murasame Liger with its twin fists, simply crushing the Zoid under its weight. The Liger was pressed into the ground, its legs buckling as the Iron Kong drove it down.

For a moment, both Zoids were still. Then the Kong reached down to the top of the disabled Liger, wrapping one of its massive fists around the base of the blade, while the other one flattened itself on the Liger's back. The Kong pulled up on the hilt of the sword, ripping it free from the Murasame Liger's body, and clenching it in one of its massive hands. Flipping the sword around so it was facing outwards, the Kong leaped off the downed Liger's body, sprinting off.

"Thanks for that, Rose." He called back. "Go help Neil and keep that Shadow Fox off my back."

"Hey!" She called out. "What are you doing?"

"Taking care of things." He replied. "Now go help Neil before he gets the kill." The battered Liger turned and sprinted away, heading towards the far end of the Battlefield. Stephen, on the other hand, headed straight for the Gojulas, bearing down on it as fast as possible.

The Gojulas pilot, seeing him coming, lowered the cannons to point straight at the oncoming Iron Kong. The weapons fired again, the shots heading straight for Stephen's Zoid rather then taking their regular ballistic arc. This time, rather then leaping, he boosted the Kong to one side, swerving away from the oncoming shots. Keeping the throttle open, he charged at the enemy Zoid as fast as he could.

Targeting the Gojulas, he opened fire with the missile pod concealed within the Iron Kong's left shoulder. The missiles flew at the Gojulas, slamming into its body and wreathing it in smoke and flames. The shots scored its amour and caused the Zoid to shake for a moment, but didn't seem to do too much more. But it distracted the enemy pilot, and that was what Stephen wanted.

The Gojulas retaliated, opening fire with the quad-barreled cannon mounted on its right arm. The shots ripped across the Iron Kong's heavily armoured chest and right shoulder, smashing the armour but not doing too much else to it. He followed up with the twin double-barreled cannons, the shots tracing lines across the sand and marring the Kong's armour but not penetrating it. The Gojulas stood its ground as he ran towards it, its pilot determined to weather whatever he had planned.

Stephen fired the boosters, the Kong leaping at the enemy Zoid. The right arm swung out at the Gojulas, slamming into its massive jaw and causing the Zoid to stagger in place. The Gojulas retaliated, lashing out at the arm with its claws, shredding their way through the armour. That suited Stephen fine; he had other plans.

The Iron Kong's left arm swung around, ramming the Murasame Blade into the Gojulas' side, driving it well into its body. The Gojulas bellowed out as the attack struck home, piercing its body and driving towards its core. The Kong released the blade, then slammed the Zoid in the side, causing it to totter, then simply keel over onto its side. The Gojulas crashed to the ground with a loud thump, shaking the ground around it.

In the cockpit of his Zoid, Stephen allowed himself a brief moment to catch his breath as he looked over the fallen machine. His own Zoid's status board was a mess, but he knew that it was enough that his machine was still operational. _Two down, _he thought. _Not bad, actually._

oOoOo

Jean grunted as the Lord Gale twisted through a sharp turn, barely avoiding the shots fired by the enemy Redler. He twisted around, leveling the cannons at the enemy Zoid as it retreated. He squeezed the trigger, the four guns belching fire at the retreating Redler. To his considerable annoyance, the Zoid suddenly twisted in flight, veering out of the line of fire of his guns, then climbing away at high speed.

He opened up the throttle, climbing after the Redler as it fled. To his annoyance, their battle had been like this so far; both of them had weaved and twisted and turned their way around each other, but hadn't had much success in hitting each other. The Redler's pilot was proving to be surprisingly good for an alleged amateur, which made him wonder if his speculation about her background may not be correct after all.

Certainly her piloting style was... unusual to say the least. He'd never seen a Redler using CP-24 before, and certainly hadn't expected to fight one that used them like this. Additionally, she didn't seem to act in ways he expected a rational pilot to act, instead pulling all manner of bizarre stunts. It had made predicting her actions rather hard, as well as responding to what she did. The fact that the Zoid's stealth systems meant that it couldn't be easily detected only made things harder.

As if to prove his point, the Redler suddenly pulled into a sharp loop, using the flexible boosters to bring it around quickly then dive straight at him at high speed. The Zoid opened fire with the twin cannons, closing in a lot faster then he expected. He veered off course, desperately climbing away from the Redler's attack. As the Redler leveled out, he turned towards it, opening fire with the beam cannons at the extreme edge of their range. The enemy Zoid suddenly climbed, speeding away from him.

"Jean! I'm in trouble!" Mortimer called out over the communicator.

"What is it?" He snarled in reply as he looked down over the battlefield, trying to keep track of what was going on. He hadn't anticipated the battle against the Redler taking so long; he'd figured for a quick kill against an amateur pilot, rather then the drawn-out twisting duel it had become. He sighted the Shadow Fox at the far end of the battlefield, being hounded by the Gunsniper and the Liger Zero on either side of it. _Wait, if there's two of them attacking him, then..._

Glancing around, he could see the other two members of his team. Karen's Murasame Liger was pressed into the ground, clearly out of action with its blade missing. What had happened to it become obvious when he saw Tyrone's Gojulas, which was lying on its side with the blade sticking out of it. _Damn it, I'm going to have to deal with this myself. _He knew that his team were at a severe disadvantage, but, at the same time, he saw ways he could salvage the battle.

He dived towards the Gunsniper, dropping his sights on the smaller Zoid. He figured that if he could take it out, them Mortimer could escape and would have a chance aginst the Zero. He was about to squeeze the trigger, when the Lord Gale was rocked by a hit from behind.

He didn't have to look back to tell what it was; he knew straight away that it would be the Redler. He opened up the Zoid's throttle, pulling into a steep climb away from the Redler. Glancing down behind him, he saw a burst of cannon fire from the Liger Zero blast the Fox in the side, sending it sprawling, He couldn't tell if Mortimer was down or not, and didn't want to check. He had other proprieties right now. Instead, he glanced around, looking out for the Black Redler that should have been after him.

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise from his systems filled his ears. Checking his systems, he could see a pair of missiles were heading straight towards his Zoid, coming in on his six. _Damn it's the Iron Kong now! _He thought to himself. The Zoid clearly hadn't used all its missiles against the Gojulas, and had instead picked him as a target.

He watched the RWR as the missiles climbed towards him at high speed, quickly closing in on his Zoid. He abruptly yanked on the stick, turning across the path of the enemy weapons, knowing that they couldn't follow his movements. As he predicted, the two missiles went straight past his Zoid. Then, as he watched, the pair of them shed their initial stages with their second stages looping back around towards his Zoid.

Cursing under his breath, he turned towards the two missiles, again cutting across their paths. One of them veered off course, losing track of his Zoid. The other one, however, managed to keep its lock and stay on his Zoid's tail. Seeing no other choice, he swung the Lord Gale around to face the oncoming missile and opened fire with the quad cannons. The shots struck the weapon, tearing into it and causing it to detonate in mid-flight. The force of the blast rocked the Zoid, but it was a lot less then it could have been.

"Now where's that-" He began as he searched around for the enemy Zoid, but it answered the question for him. The Redler shot straight up from out of nowhere, flying across the Lord Gale's path. There was a brief metallic screech as the enemy Zoid passed in a black and green blur that sent the his own machine reeling. Looking around, he watched in horror as the Lord Gale's claws, complete with its guns, broke free form the body and fell away.

"Hey, check it out." The Redler's pilot called out over the radio. "I guess yer a big Hemmingway fan, right?"

Jean blinked, stunned by what she had just done, as well as her rather cryptic comment. "Wha..." He asked, his glasses sliding down his nose to reveal his firey orange eyes. "What?"

"You got a farewell to arms." She finished.

"Damn it!" He snapped as he checked over his own Zoid's status, while the Redler circled around him. He was down to his lances only, which wasn't enough to take down the Redler, let alone any of the other Zoids. And while all four of them were battered, his situation was far worse. He couldn't see any situation under which he would be able to achieve a victory on his own.

"Fine then." He snarled over the communicator. "You win. You can go." He glanced down at the two Chimera Dragons that were still waiting, the only witnesses to the battle. He could let them loose, but that wouldn't really gain him anything; he had still lost the battle. All he could do was let them withdraw and at least retain some dignity. He pressed a button on his console to signal his surrender to the judge drone

"The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause, its electronic voice betraying no hint of emotion at what had happened. "The winner is the Broken Chairs."

The Black Redler passed by him again, as if it was watching him. _How interesting, _he thought. _Another Nyxian. For two of us to meet like this is... unexpected. _He frowned as he watched the Redler go. _We shall have to battle again... now that I have analysed the way you fly, I'm sure that our next meeting could be more to my advantage._

oOoOo

The leader of the Crimson Claw team had proved to be true to his word. The Broken Chairs had been allowed to leave with out being attacked by the Chimera Dragons or any other NUBG forces. Three of their battered Zoids had been loaded onto the Gustavs, while Tasch had agreed to fly overhead and keep an eye out for anyone following them or any signs of an ambush. Their precautions seemed to have been unnecessary, the team making it back to the city without any further encounters.

The instant they got into the city, they'd gone straight for the PKB's headquarters. The team had been taken in and had spent the next few hours going over what had happened. The information from their Zoid's data recorders had been used to verify what had gone on during the battle and to confirm their stories.

The Dark Panzers had shown up at a different battlefield, waiting for a battle that never started. Both teams had been interviewed by the PKB and both had shown proof of the battle details they had received. As near as anyone could tell, one team or the other had been deliberately misdirected by the NUBG, with the intention being to set up the Broken Chairs. The question remained as to how the NUBG had arranged the misdirection.

An inspection of the battlefield had revealed a similar scenario as to what had happened with the last NUBG run-in; the disabled Zoids had been removed before anyone could arrive, their tracks well-covered. There was plenty of debris, but not too much else.

After a few hours, the PKB had decided to simply let the Broken Chairs go home, but had arranged for someone to watch their base just to make sure. However, when they got inside, nobody on the team could think of when they'd ever been so happy to be back here.

"Well that was fun." Neil commented as he flopped on a couch. "Remind me never, ever to get into an illegal battle again. Two is more then enough for me."

"We did pretty well out of it, all things considered." Stephen added. "While all of them were damaged to some degree, none of our Zoids were taken out. And we managed to give a good showing of ourselves against the NUBG Pilots."

"Oh big whoop there." Rose commented as she sat down next to Neil. "Most of those guys were incompetent clowns who probably only joined NUBG because they couldn't hack it as real Zoid warriors."

"Including the Murasame pilot who fought you to a standstill and the Lord Gale pilot who managed to match Tasch?" Neil needled.

"I said most, didn't I?" She replied.

"Well, I think that wasn't too bad." Tasch commented as she came in. "And that Lord Gale guy was polite enough to let us go after without settin' the Chimeras on us, so that's not too bad."

"You can be surprisingly optimistic some days." Stephen noted. "And you did very well up there I saw some of what you managed to do there. You had that guy matched move for move."

Rose nodded. "I was pretty surprised too." She admitted. "So what's your secret. How many dogfight victories does this make now?"

"Well, let me see..." Tasch considered this. "Not includin' simulators or trainin' battles or stuff like that, then... none."

"None?" Everyone was equally surprised by this.

"Ayup." Tasch nodded. "'cause this was my first ever air-to-air battle, y'see. And I didn't actually beat him; he surrendered. So that makes for none."

"That was your first dogfight?" Neil replied, somewhat surprised by this. "What is your secret?"

"Well, I practice a lot." She admitted. "And I trained real hard too."

"Amazing." He whistled. "You never cease to surprise me."

Stephen nodded in agreement. "Just don't get too cocky there, guys." He began. "Remember, our Zoids got busted up pretty badly in that battle, and since it wasn't a ZBC official battle, we don't get any prize money for it. So all our repairs will be coming out of pocket."

"Well, I can take a look at that." Tasch commented. "I've got some experience with Zoid repairs."

"You do?"

"Oh yeah. It's what I trained fer initially." She explained. "And I put it all to work when I set up my Redler like that."

"You did that?" Neil asked. "Amazing. Is there anything you can't do?"

"Make sense?" Rose offered.

"Well..." Tasch considered this for a moment. "I ain't no good at tongue twisters."

"That'll do for me." Stephen continued. "But thanks, guys. You all did a great job out there today. And hopefully, by beating their team down like we did, we will have discouraged NUBG from any further idiocy like we had today."

oOoOo

Michael Heywood sat in his office, going over the footage that the monitor drones and the various NUBG Zoids had taken from the battle. Right now, he was busy studying the battle, looking for the best shots that could be used for the video highlight package. Even though the NUBG team had lost, there would be a lot of people interested to see this battle. That wasn't enough to make up for his generally foul mood, however.

He'd had high expectations for Jean and his team. Jean was one of his better pilots, and the Crimson Claw were one of his better teams. Jean was meant to be good at analysing the enemy, predicting how they would react and devising counters to them. He was not supposed to go down with three losses to no victories. Heywood had predicted a win, and the betting had reflected this. Now there were a lot of people out a lot of money.

Jean had volunteered to fly recon, just to make sure that nobody had followed him or his team back to the NUBG. Heyqwood had agreed to let him, knowing that there were people who would not be happy to see him when he got back.

And the worst part of all this was that they had failed their original objective, which was to teach the Broken Chairs, and that one girl in particular, not to mess with NUBG. The last thing he wanted was for them to have any sort of victory, any sort of win over him. At the same time, he knew he needed a reason to keep going after them.

"Excuse me." Rachel began as she walked into his office. "But I've got the figures on today's betting here." She handed him a sheet. "As you can see, we made a fair amount of our betting fees alone. And with the amount of pre-orders for the video package, we're looking pretty good in spite of everything else."

He gave the sheet a once over. 'Thank you for that, Rachel." He finished with a grin. He had just found his reason.

oOoOo

Shots hammered into the wings of Jean's Lord Gale, literally slamming the Zoid out of the sky. Battered, it crashed to he ground, slumped against a section of ruined wall. Looking ahead, he could see his attacker coming slowly towards him, clearly intent on finishing him off.

Checking over his systems, he could see that the Zoid was in bad shape. The wings were shredded, which meant that he couldn't fly. One of his Zoid's legs was damaged in the crash, which would reduce his ability to run; not that he would be able to outrun his attacker. His lances were still functional, but he knew that they would be of only limited use against the attacking Zoid.

As far as he could tell, he had only one option. "I surrender!" He called out.

The only reply he got form the other Zoid was a low growl as it approached, apparently ignoring his cry.

oOoOo

**Author's Notes:**

I will give a million billion trillion squintillion Southern Republic Dinars to whoever figures out what Nadia the Elephander pilot is a reference to.


	8. Relative Pain

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Eight - Relative Pain

By Rick R.

The sound of the front door buzzer rang throughout the converted factory that served as the Broken Chairs' team base. After yesterday's events, this cause nothing short of a moment of brief panic as the four members of the team tried to figure what was going on.

"You don't think its NUBG again?" Neil began.

"Aren't the PKB meant to watching this place?" Stephen added, walking out from his room with a pistol in hand.

"Whoa, put that thing down!" Rose called out. "Let's not get too panicky guys. Why would NUBG be at our door?"

"Maybe they're tryin' to get people into illegal battles by goin' door to door." Tasch began. "You know, they offer ya a place in an illegal battle, but this way they don't broadcast it or anything, so its kinda secret."

"Okay, that's just nuts." Rose shook her head. "You're all being nuts. Your average NUBG goon isn't smart enough to think of that."

"They were smart enough to ambush us." Neil interjected. "That should tell you something."

"I don't think the NUBG would be going door to door." Stephen spoke up.

"But what if that's what they want y'all to think?" Tasch asked. "I mean, they hope that y'all aren't expecting them to go door to door, so they do it because you don't expect it."

"...It's too early in the morning for this." Neil sighed.

The door buzzed again. "Fine, I'm going down there." Stephen spoke up as he stuffed the pistol into the back of his pants. "If you hear shooting, come down." He walked past them, stepping out of the living room and into the Zoid hanger where their machines were waiting. The four Zoids all bore scars from yesterday's battle, and all would need a lot of work before they were all fully operational.

He walked over too the front door and partially opened it, warily looking out at the people outside. It was a young man and woman, both dressed in PKB uniforms, both holding up their warrant cards. Behind them, he could see a pair of squad cars parked outside the factory. "Stephen Chesterton?" The woman began. "I'm PC Lisa Page, and this is PC Tony Cole."

"Uh, hi." He began, not expecting the PKB to be here, and wishing he didn't have his gun on him. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"This is a follow-up to the incident from yesterday." Tony explained. "Something's come up that we'd like you to have a look at."

"Sure." He replied as he glanced inside the hanger. "Did you want to see me or the whole team?"

"The whole team, actually." Lisa stated. "We'd like you to look over something that we think might be related to it."

"Okay then." He really wished that he didn't have his gun on him now. "Just give me a minute to get everyone."

"Thank you for that, mister Chesterton."

He ducked back inside the base, walking into the main living room where everyone was waiting. "Well?" Neil asked. "NUBG, Encyclopedia Salesmen or other?"

"PKB, actually." Stephen replied. "They want us to come and look at something that has something to do with the NUBG battle yesterday." He explained.

"Care to be any more vague?" Neil quipped.

"Come on." Rose glared at him. "We might as well help them. Last thing I want to do is get on the PKB's bad side."

The four of them stepped out of their base, joining the pair of officers. A short ride in the two squad cars took them out to a run-down industrial district on the outskirts of the city, the same area that Neil and Rose had faced off with the NUBG Dark Spiner and liger Zero X. As the cars approached, thy could see several cars as well as a couple of PKB Zoids parked nearby.

"What in the heck do ya think is going on?" Tasch asked Neil who was sitting next to him in the second car.

"Maybe it's a private party." He commented. "Or maybe they found a bit of Dark Spiner that they missed which has all its vital details on it. Serial number, purchaser, pilot's name, shoe size and favorite film."

"They can tell all that from one piece of evidence?" Tasch asked. "I didn't think their forensics were that good."

"Sure they are. Don't you ever watch that cop show?"

"The one with the Pteras? Naw." She shook her head. "But I do like some of the Cop shows from home."

"What, where the officers make wisecracks, talk about their private lives, chase down young tearaways, beat them to within an inch of their lives and sentence them to ten years hard labor for jaywalking?"

"Oh, so you watch 'em too?" Tasch asked.

Neil wanted to say something, but he couldn't. Instead, he just watched the ride.

The two cars pulled up near the group of Zoids, the PKB officers leading their four passengers over to another group of PKB officers. In the middle of their group was a middle-aged man in a suit with a shaved head, presumably to cover the fact that he was very bald. He turned to face them as they arrived. "Chief Detective Jack Hindle." He began. "Thanks for coming."

"Can I ask what this is about?" Stephen asked.

"We'd like some answers." Neil added. "Rose doesn't like to be up before ten."

"Hey!"

"If you'd like to follow me, I want to show you what's going on." He lead them through he crowd of Zoids and personnel to cordoned off area. In the middle of it was a mass of twisted, dismembered Zoid parts. Most of them were bright orange, but there were some black and silver parts. "We found this Lord Gale this morning. We were wondering if it was the same one as you fought yesterday."

"Lord Gale?" Stephen asked. "I'm surprised that you can identify it as such."

"Well, its pumpkin orange." Tasch offered. "So there ain't too much else that it could be."

"What about a Flyscissors?" Rose asked. "Or, uh, a couple of Flyscissors?"

"Naw, Flyscissors is a far brighter orange." Tasch explained as she shook her head.

Stephen looked over it. "I guess it could be the same one. There's very little left in the way of identifying marks." He examined the debris. "Hey, Tasch, did that lord Gale have anything on it that made it stand out?"

"It has some sorta logo on the wings." She replied. "Sorta like a claw thing or the like."

Rose looked at the mess of parts. "Say, where are the wings?"

Hindle shook his head. "We haven't found much of them yet. We think that they were shot off or destroyed by whatever did this."

"I can't see its claw arm thing either." Neil spoke up. "And you did slice it off."

"Yeah..." Tasch looked around. "Y'all found what bit is its right arm?"

"Over here." Hindle indicated to a length of twisted orange servos lying next to a silver blox that looked like it had been chewed on. The end of the arm, however, looked different to the rest of the debris. Whereas most everything else had been ripped or torn, the end was rather neatly sliced off. "This what you were talking about?"

Tasch looked at the sliced off end. "Yeah, that looks like it." She commented. "I sliced off his arm, and commented that he was a Hemmignway fan." She snickered for a moment. "That was kinda fun, actually."

"Don't ask." Rose added to Jack.

"So do you know who or what did this?" Stephen asked. "Trust me, the lord Gale wasn't like this when we last saw it."

"Initial analysis suggests that it was attacked with some sort of charged claw and fang weapons." He explained. "So current suggestion is a big cat."

Neil glanced at rose. "So, what were you up to last night?"

"Don't look at me." She put her hands in the air. "The PKB were watching us all last night. I couldn't have gone anywhere last night without them knowing. Besides, my Zero's still full of holes. I wouldn't have gone out like that."

"Do you know anyone else who this could have been?" Jack asked. "Anyone else who you know? I'd ask who has a grudge against the NUBG, but I know that's casting too wide a net."

"Nobody I can think of." Neil admitted. "Rose is the only sharp cat pilot I know of."

"Uh, yeah." She replied. "I, uh, I couldn't think of anyone myself."

"How about however it was who attacked the Spiner and the Zero X?" Stephen asked. "Think it could be the same person?"

"We've considered that option." Jack admitted. "But we don't have any idea who that was. We were hoping that you'd be able to shed some light on it."

"Anyone's think that we had someone followin' us." Tasch added. "What with it attackin' three different Zoids that have attacked us."

"Great. We have our own deranged stalker." Neil commented. "Just what I always wanted. I guess we really are famous now."

"What about the pilot?" Stephen asked.

"No sign." Jack pointed to the cockpit module which was lying nearby. It was a bit battered, but relatively intact. The pilot was either not in the Zoid when it was destroyed, or he got incredibly lucky.

"Is there anything else we can help with?" Stephen asked, trying hard not to think about the implications of what he'd just said.

"No, I think that should be fine." Jack commented. "Thanks for your help. If anyhting else comes up, we'll let you know."

Miles Slate stepped into the cafe, looking around for his contact. He'd made this meeting after learning some interesting things about the next round of the Zoid battles, and which teams would be matched up against each other. The information he'd gained presented a few opportunities for him.

He liked to project the image of the professional sportsman. He was sophisticated, intelligent, mature and skilled at what he did. He was humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Or at least, that's what he liked to pretend. He also knew what the truth was. Deep down, Miles Slate hated to loose. Being defeated was the one thing that really, really got to him. Simply put, he didn't like it. He liked to always be ahead, be number one. He wanted to be on top of the world, and not one of the also-rans. He hated to come second.

Of course, he didn't get mad. No, he wasn't like that idiot Slash who chucked temper tantrums and cried to his parents. No, he planned and thought things through, and looked for other ways to get an advantage. When the Firestorm Team had been just squeezed out of the finals last year, he'd figured his way around it. He'd used the departure of two of the team members as an opportunity to rebuild the team and recruit a very skilled pilot into its ranks, as well as another one who, while not as skilled, was still very capable. And, he figured, hiring Krystal had other bonuses too.

Their battle with the Broken Chairs had been rather upsetting for him. It wasn't just that they'd lost which got him. It was that they'd lost to a team of amateurs who seemed to have more luck then actual skill. That they had lost by such a close margin was little consolation. After all, he wasn't the last of them to go down. The fact that his team were otherwise undefeated so far in the season only made it hurt more.

So today was all about revenge.

He sat down in a booth, quietly waiting for them to arrive. He was rewarded a moment later when a pair of attractive young women joined him, sitting in the seat opposite him. He knew the taller of the pair of them, who had been a member of the old Firestorm team before being headhunted. "Hey there, Keiko." He began.

Keiko Morimoto nodded. She had long black hair worn in a ponytail and almond shaped brown eyes which had just a very vague reddish tint to them. She was dressed in a rather simple blouse and slacks, which made her a stark contrast to her companion. "Good to see you, Miles." She replied.

"And this is?" He asked, turning to her companion.

Shorter then Keiko, she couldn't have looked too much different. The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes, and dressed somewhat differently then her friend. She wore a tight, vee-necked shirt that showed off her ample cleavage, as well as a miniskirt and high-heeled boots. "Michelle Levesque." She replied. "Pleased to meetcha."

"Likewise" he replied, appraising her form. _Not too shabby, actually, _he thought. _I wonder if she's free tonight? _He figured that Krys wouldn't know, as she'd be too busy trying to get into Drake's pants.

"So what's this all about?" Keiko asked. "I'm guessing this is not a former Firestorm reunion, as we're a bit short."

He shook his head. "Actually, it's a bit of an opportunity for the pair of you." He began. "I have an offer for you."

"Do go on." Michelle began, leaning closer. Keiko remained impassive for now.

"There's a certain team that I know you are going up against in the next round." He explained. "One that I've dealt with in past."

"That's the Broken Chairs." Keiko spoke up. "And you're carrying a grudge against them."

"I wouldn't say that-"

Keiko gave a smug grin. "Oh, I know you too well, Miles." She spoke up. "I know what you're like when someone beats you. And I that being whipped by those amateurs won't have gone down well with you."

Miles remained calm. "At any rate, the chairs have ad a few run-ins with NUBG." He explained. "And while they've managed to get out of it both times, they haven't gotten off scot free. Their Zoids got badly banged up in their last battle and, while they probably can repair them, I can imagine that they're probably getting low on supplies and parts... and low on cash to replace them."

"Your point being?" Michelle asked.

"I can do something for you if you can do something for me." He continued. "I've fought these guys. I can tell you everything you need to know and what you need to look out for, which will help you beat them. I know that you guys are surrendering a lot of weight to them, and you'll need every advantage you can get."

"This is true." Keiko admitted. "It sounds good."

"So what do you want?" Michelle asked.

"Simple." He replied. "I don't just want them beaten. I want them broken. If you get the chance, put the boot in. Throw in a little overkill. Hit them when they're down. That kinda stuff." He grinned. "Make them look bad, and beat up their machines as much as you can."

"So in return for your helping us win, you get your jollies from watching us beat them down." Keiko finished. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

"Sounds good to me too." Michelle finished. "And trust me, we will beat 'em good."

"That's what I wanted to hear." Miles finished, a smug grin on his face. "Good luck, girls."

After the excitement of the last round of the tournament (and the endless hours of police interviews and statements that had came after it), it had actually been rather quiet around the Broken Chairs' base. There had been little to do aside from work on the Zoids and try to get them back into shape for the next round of the tournament, and then spend the rest of their time waiting around.

Tasch's experience as a Zoid tech had actually paid off well here. She'd taken charge of the repairs and managed to get a good amount of work done on getting their machines back into shape herself with some help from Stephen. It'd helped cut down the amount of time they'd expected to take, and saved them a bit on labour, if not parts. Of course, the repairs from the battle had left them rather out of pocket, especially given that they hadn't won anything from their battle with the NUBG team.

"Well that's done." Tasch began as she walked into their living room. She was dressed in a baggy jumpsuit and covered in grease, which didn't discorage her from flopping down into one of their battered chairs. "All the Zoids are now in full working order. An' I'm comptletly pooped."

"Thanks for that, Tasch." Stephen said as he walked past her. "Can I get you a drink?

"An orange juice would be real good, actually." She replied and smiled. "So how's the rest of you doing?"

"Not too bad, actually." Neil spoke up from his seat in front of the console. "Save for the fact that Rose has been kicking my arse from here to the Bloody Gate."

Rose gave him a rather silly pout. "After endless rounds of loosing to both Tasch and Stephen, its good to have someone who I can actually beat."

"That's it." He replied. "Next win we get, I'm getting us a game besides _Corona. _One I can actually win at."

Whatever reply Rose could give was cut off by a loud, rhythmic crashing noise form outside. "Wha?" She asked. "What is that?"

"It sounds like a running Zoid." Stephen replied. "One that's moving very, very fast."

"In a suburban street?" Neil shook his head. "They'd be nuts."

"Hey, it ain't NUBG is it?" Tasch asked. "Like they're comin' to our door to deliver us a challenge?"

"They'd be nuts to do it with the PKB still watching us." Neil commented.

"Either that or very, very stupid." Rose added. "So don't rule it out."

There was a loud screeching noise from the front of the factory. As one, the team turned to look out the font as a Zoid entered, turning wildly on the concrete. The Zoid, a blue Liger Zero with a similarly coloured Fire Phoenix attached to it, skidded to a halt just in front of the factory.

"Who the hell is that?" Stephen asked as he looked down at the fused Zoid.

"Whoever it is, they're nuts." Neil added

"It has to be the NUBG." Tasch commented.

Rose looked over the Zoid, a sickening feeling in her stomach. She noticed something on one of its wings that confirmed her worst fears. It was a custom logo, a grinning smiley face with a pair of cat ears on top. "No," she muttered. "It's worse." She rushed past the three of them, sprinting down the stairs to the main hanger.

"What's up with you?" Stephen asked as she dashed by.

"Can't talk." She added as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay, this I have to see." Neil commented as he followed her down. "Anything that has her that panicked has to be either very good or very, very bad."

Rose reached the front door with Neil just behind her, opening to find a figure standing in the doorway. Looking over them, Neil noted that they looked a lot like Rose. Their hair was a bit darker, and they had blue eyes instead of Rose's green. What was the most striking was their size. The woman was a lot taller then Rose (Who was herself very tall) and probably a hair above Stephen.

"Violet!" Rose began, an apprehensive tone in her voice. "So good to see-"

"OHMYGORD!" The other woman squealed out as she stepped in through the door, grabbing Rose in a bone-crushing hug. "Rose! Look at you, you're a real Zoid pilot now! You look fantastic, you know that? You look really really good and it is so damned good to see you! I have not seen you in, like, forever since you left home and stuff and now here you are in the big city as a professional Zoid pilot and kicking butts! That is like so totally amazing, you know that? I have missed you so, so much, Rose and I want to hear al about how you are going and stuff!" She vomited out without even stopping for breath.

"I'm great, Vi, really." Rose managed to get out as she was let go and staggered back. "And how are you going?"

"I'm fantastic, Rose, really great. I've been on an extended holiday on all my winnings and all the product endorsements that I got and its been really, really cool and I've been on a self guided tour of the Eastern Continent (And why do they call it the Eastern Continent? Doesn't it have a name like Europa or Delpoli or Nyx even?) and taking in all the sights and all the beaches and lying around and having a good time and chasing guys and avoiding fanboys and having a great time of it. Okay, so I had to do a shoot for one of those swimsuit companies I endorse, but it was cool 'cause it was two weeks of lying around on beaches and getting paid for it! How awesome is that?"

"That's great to hear, Vi." She continued, a rather apprehensive tone in her voice. "You sound like you're having a really good time."

Neil, who had been standing there, staring in gobsmacked horror finally spoke up. "Uh, hi there." He managed.

"Oh, hey there!" She blurted out. "You must be Neil, right? Rose has told me all about you guys and I figure you're Neil since you're a bit on the short side and she said that there was a tall guy and a short guy on the team and it makes sense that you're the short guy then. So, hey there Neil, name's Violet, I'm rose's older sister but you probably already figured that out by now. Anyways, I was just passing through and I figured that I'd drop by and say Hi to my baby sister and meet the wonderful team that she's been telling me all about."

"Baby sister?" Neil asked.

"She's two years older." Rose replied. "But always noticeably taller."

"Really..." Neil replied.

"So, Sis." Violet continued, apparently not noticing a thing they'd said. "When do I get to meet this cool team of yours? Well, I mean the rest of it as I've already met Neil here and I just can't wait to meet the others if they're as cool as you've described them as."

"Well, Violet, If you want to meet them, we can go in..." Rose offered.

"Think that's safe?" Neil asked.

"We couldn't stop her if she wanted too." Rose muttered back, then turned to Violet, who was looking around the hanger. "So, wanna stop hanging around in the doorway and meet the team?"

"Well all righty then!" She called out. "I have so been looking forwards to this, Sis." She began as she stepped into the room. "Hey this base is pretty neat, actually. I like the post-industrial grunge look of the place, sort of all bleak and run down but in a cool way not an awful way and the bare concrete has that sort of cool stark minimalism kind of thing that's really in right now. When I was competing I just rented a simple Zoid hanger with attached living space which was kinda minimalist but at the same time all that I needed because I rarely spent much time in it."

Rose lead them up the stairs into the main living room. Tasch and Stephen were both apprehensively standing by the window, watching the Zoid outside as if it were about to explode or something. "Er, guys?" Rose began. "I, uh, I'd like you to meet my older sister, Violet O'Bannon."

Violet stepped into the doorway, grinning and waving. "Heya guys!" She called out.

"Violet, this is Stephen Chesterton and Tasch Stroermer."

"Pleased to meet you." Stephen began as he turned to her.

"Oh hey, Steve!" Violet began. "Well, I'm guessing you're Stephen, since you look more like a 'Stephen' then she does and, well, you fit the description and the photos that Rose sent me and, well, hell, that's what makes the most sense to me. Anyway, I'm Violet, Rose's big sister who used ot look out for her but trust me, from all that Rose has said, it sounds like you're doing pretty well in keeping her out of trouble if you know what I mean. Anyways, I'm not overly protective or going to bite your head off or anything like that so if you're having it off with my baby sister it's all cool with me. Okay, got a bit carried away there, but I guess you know what I mean, right?"

"I think so, yeah." Stephen replied, momentarily lost for words.

"Hey there." Tasch interjected. "Darn pleased to meetcha all."

"Well hey there!" Violet squealed out. "Nice to meet you, Tasch. Rose has said a lota things about you, and you sound like a very interesting person, you know. I mean, she said you're some sorta ace pilot who does really, really weird things with your Redler that she never expected and sure as heck as I'd like to see that some day. She also said that you were from Nyx which I can see from your eyes which probably has a lot of people wondering if you're related to that Gilvader pilot guy what with the name and the Nyx thing and the fact that you pilot a black dragon Zoid and all that."

"Yeah, it happens to me a lot, but I kinda got used to it." Tasch replied. "But thanks for that.. Maybe y'all could hang around for our next match and I can show off some of what I can do." Behind her Rose was frantically shaking her head.

"You know what, that's kinda cool." Violet continued. "Yeah, I'd really like to see you guys in action after Rose told me so much about all you guys in how much butt you've been kicking. Sure as heck as I want to see what she can do but I also want to see the rest of you guys in action. Just because I'm not competing any more doesn't mean I'm not keeping my eyes open to see what's going on. 'sides, I'm planning to come back some day and when I do I want to see what all you kids are doing these days, know what I mean."

"Yeah, it makes sense." Tasch replied. "I mean, y'all would want to keep up to date with the competition. You wouldn't want to jus' walk in and find that everything's different... like all of a sudden everyone was usin' Lidiers or the like. That's be horrible."

"Well, yeah!" Violet nodded enthusiastically. "So that's an even better reason to hang around here. I can catch up with all my old pals and all my old rivals and see how they're doing and what they're up to and if there's any new trends so that when or if I get back into the swing of things and get back to kikin' butt. And who knows... I may end up crossin' paths with Rose or the rest of ya."

"Yeah... but there's one thing." Tasch commented. "If ya'll had a brother, what would he have been called? I mean, there ain't too many floral names that work for a guy."

Violet paused and considered this. "You know what, I never really thought of that. I never realised that mum and dad were so totally obsessed with the whole floral names thing until you just bought it up like that. Okay, that is weird. I may have to write to them and ask them just what they woulda done, ain't that right, sis?"

"Uh, sure." Rose looked over tp her. "Say, uh, you haven't heard from, uh..." She trailed off.

"Nnnnooo... you?" Violet replied, strangely apprehensive for a moment.

"Somehtin' up?" Tasch asked.

"Ah, nothing really. Just a little old silly thing, anyways." Violet continued. "Anyways, I saw your Redler on the way up. Its kinda interesting, what with the CP-24 on the back like that. I don't think I've ever seen a Redler like that... and I bet that there are very few others who have and that means that you probably surprise a lot of people with it. Heck, I'd have no idea what a Redler with CP-24 on it can do simply because I've never ever ever considered the possibility."

"Well, it ain't exactly common." Tasch shrugged. "'sides, it probably ain't as interestin' as havin' a Fuzor like your Zoid is. Yeah, that'd be kinda cool... being a shiny pointy birdy kitty and all. But I wonder... does havin' the Phoenix head on top of the Liger head affect yer view?"

"Well the thing is that the Phoenix's head ties into the Zero's cockpit displays or something like that." Violet began. "And the Phoenix's feeds are combined with the Zero's feeds so that both pilots can get a full picture of what's going on around them. Well, that is, if there's a pilot in both Zoids. Of course, there's only one pilot in my Zoid which is me, but you get the idea. At any rate, I can see all of what's going on without the head of the Phoenix getting in the way or anything like that."

Neil watched the pair of them talking at each other. "Am I the only one who finds it kind of worrying that those two are getting along so well?" he asked.

"I'm just amazed that they understand each other." Stephen replied.

"And to think that she's a former ZBC champion." Neil continued. "I wouldn't have picked it."

"Still, it makes our odds look a bit better, I guess."

"Also true." Neil commented. "So, how about you? Got any scary siblings you're not letting us know about?"

"Definitely not." He angrily replied, glaring at Neil.

"Oookay." Neil shrugged back. "I'll just go... get out of the hazard area. Yeah." He glanced over at Violet. "Next continent should be fine."

There was a bizarre belief in popular culture that criminals were some how glamorous or exciting people because what they did was illegal. The thought was that, simply because what they did was against the law, these people lead more interesting lives then those who walked the straight and narrow. The truth was anything but the case. Criminals were just as dull and boring as their law abiding counterparts, and their lives just as unexciting.

Rachel Golden firmly believed in this fact. Even though she was the personal assistant to the leader of the NUBG, and often the person that did a lot of the day to day work that kept the organisation running, her work was, in truth, no more exciting then that of any other office worker in the city. As she went through the financial records from the previous weekend's battles (including the one between their Bloody Claw team and that ZBC team), she could have just as easily been anywhere else in the city. The only difference was that she couldn't talk about her work, and there was always the risk of being caught. And she would have happily explained that there was no thrill in avoiding capture. It was just a matter of survival.

She finished the analysis of the weekend's takings. Even allowing for repairs needed to three Zoids (and possibly replacing a fourth) as well as a few bribes, they had come off rather well from the weekend. More to the point, they had done very well form the one battle alone. The audience hadn't so much enjoyed the battle between the Bloody Claw and that other team. No, they had lapped it up. They didn't care that the NUBG team had lost. They enjoyed it for the sheer excitement of seeing a battle between two teams from different orgnisations, ones that would otherwise never clash.

Which bought her back to her earlier point. They only enjoyed it because it was illegal. She shook her head as she thought about it. It was a very stupid mindset, but it was what made the NUBG its money and, as a result, put cash in her pocket. So who was she to argue?

A small message popped up in the corner of her computer's screen. Checking it, it bought up some very interesting information. Looking over it, she decided that Michael would have to know this. Standing up, she walked into his office. "Excuse me, Mr. Heywood." She began.

Michael looked up from the handheld video game he was playing. "What's up, Rach?" He asked.

"The PKB have found Templar's Zoid." She explained. "Or, at least, its wreckage. It appears to have been completely destroyed."

"Destroyed?" He asked. "What happened?"

"They're not sure. Whatever did it completely destroyed the Zoid, reducing it to parts and leaving behind very little evidence. I think that we can say that the Zoid is completely unrecoverable. All the PKB can say is that they think it may have been some sort of Liger or Tiger Zoid."

"Dammit." He muttered as he put the game down. "What about Jean? Any sign of him?"

"No." She stated. "He appears to have escaped his Zoid before it was destroyed. However, he's yet to report in anywhere, so we have to assume that he's missing."

"I see." He shrugged. "Tell people to keep a look out for him, just in case he turns up somewhere. Last thing I want is for him to get caught and end up spilling the guts to the PKB or the like." He leaned back in his chair. "And also see about getting the Claw a new leader or something. They're too popular to break up or anything like that."

"Yes, mister Heywood."

"Also, lets see about getting another shot at that ZBC team." He continued. "Things are looking up. Well, save for that whole 'loosing an entire arena' bit."

"Actually, Mr. Heywood, there was one other thing." She spoke up. "It may be a good idea to leave that team alone for the moment."

"Explain."

"I heard that former ZBC champion Violet O'Bannon was in town. She's the older sister of one of the pilots on that team - in fact, the Liger Zero pilot who caused this trouble to start with." Actually, it was entirely the fault of a single brainless pilot and the NUBG's poor screening procedures. "I was thinking that attacking a former ZBC champion would be more trouble then it was worth. Or, for that matter, attacking her immediate family while she's around."

"And you said it was a Liger that did it..." Michael trailed off. He sat up in his chair, opening a draw and pulling out a beer from his desk. "Here's what I want you to do, Rachel." He began as he opened the can. "Tell our people to keep an eye on that team as well. I want to know what they're up to, as well as when Violet is out of the picture. And put out more feelers to see about another battle. I like the way your balance sheets are coming up. "

"Certainly." She replied. "Anything else?"

"Naw, it's cool." He finished, then took a swig from his beer. "Just keep at it, Rachel."

She nodded and then left his office, sitting down at her desk again. _No fear there, _she thought as she looked over her screen. Tracking down Jean would have to be a priority for now. He was one of NUBG's senior pilots, and, as a result, could be a danger to the organisation if caught. Still, it wasn't all gloom and doom. She'd been hoping that Michael would be pursuing the mater with the Broken Chairs further. It was proving to be quite interesting.

Rose had been politely volunteered by the other members of the team to take Violet for a tour of the base. Rose figured that it was part because of the fact that she was, after all, Violet's sister, and part because both Stephen and Neil appeared to be afraid of her, and she was afraid of what Tasch may say. As they had been walking around, Rose had been filling Violet in on bits and pieces of what had happened to them since the start of her career in the Zoid battles.

"Yeah, I know NUBG." Violet began. "I was there for that one year where they got really, really annoying. I mean to say more annoying then they usually are, if you know what I mean. Of course, I was just a rookie then and not the devastatingly powerful and amazing champion that I would eventually come if you catch my drift. Of course, as a result of which I was far, far less interesting to them then I would have been if I was the champion, and we all know who was the champion at the time."

"Well, I guess." Rose replied, a little uncertainly. "Anyways, uh... I know you never said anything about it, but did you ever have any, uh, run-ins with the NUBG, so to speak?"

"They attacked individuals a lot less then they attacked teams probably because almost all the individual battles took place in the arena rather then out on the fields that you get so often in team battles like that last couple you told me about. Anyways, I never got involved directly with their battles but there was this one time that I did get involved with an NUBG battle after a fact." She continued.

"Really?" Rose asked. Violet had never said anything about fighting the NUBG. "Can i ask what happened?"

"Well, it was a stereotypically dark and stormy night because these sorts of things always happen on dark and stormy nights you know." She began. "Anyways, I was on my way home when I came across a Shadow Fox that was being chased by a Liger Zero X. I recongised the Fox as belonging to this guy I'd known and had a few battles against. He was kinda a funny guy too because he never really spoke to anyone. I mean anyone at all, what's up with that? Oh, and he wore all black except for blue gloves which was also a little weird. Anyways, it looked like he was trying to run and hide but he was being chased by a Zero X which is a lot bigger and a lot nastier and of course a lot faster. And as we were nowhere near an arena, I figured that it had to be NUBG."

"So what happened then?" Rose glanced at her.

"Well I figured that this battle was pretty unfair and that the NUBG guy was being a creep anyway and so I decided to help the poor guy out." Violet continued, unabated. "Anyways, I decided to charge in and teach him a lesson not to pick on poor ZBC warriors especially not ones who's Zoids are a lot smaller and less capable then theirs is. Anyways, I charged on in and opened up on the Zero X and did a pretty good job of smashing him up. At any rate, he broke off and ran away but I was happy to let him go besides which Zero Xs are all stealthy and the like and I didn't really feel like chasing him through the night but I gave him what for anyway."

"I see..." Rose considered this. "And after that, what? You never had any other run-ins with them?"

"Nnnope. None at all." Violet shook her head. "Of course it wasn't too long after that when NUBG suddenly stopped their attacks and we didn't really hear much from them again. I don't know for certain but I have to wonder if I hadn't beat up some kinda bigwig and really discouraged them from doing anything stupid like that again. Or at least that's what I'd like to think happened." The pair of them walked into the Zoid hanger. "Hey, that's your Zero, right?"

"Yeah." Rose replied, wondering what else it could be. Violet already knew that she piloted a Zero, and it was the only Zoid that fit the description of 'large white cat' in the hanger. "Its one of those newer ones."

"Oh yeah, it's missing the black spots on the head." Violet observed. "Still that kinda neat and hey! You got your own logo on your Zoid too." She called out as she leaped down next to the Zoid. The armour over the Zero's hips on its forelegs sported a large rose logo, similar to the tattoo on her abdomen. "That's really cool, sis. I like it a lot. I mean, it suits you because it's a rose and your name is Rose and you've got that cool tat (not that I'd ever get a tat but each to their own, huh?) and its just so very you."

"Yeah." Rose blushed a bit. "It was a bit expensive, but I think it was worth it. Makes the Zoid a bit more 'mine' I guess."

"Damn right it does, but it really works too." Violet continued. "I mean, I got my own custom logo on my Zoid and I think that its very me and makes the Zoid very much my own machine and tells everyone who I am and that logo is kinda cool anyways. And I think I've got the same logo on my regular blue Zero armour which is what my Zoid would use if it wasn't using its Phoenix fuzor which I hardly ever do but if I did it'd have the logo on it somewhere."

"Yeah, yours is pretty cool." Rose admitted.

"And hey the rest of your team have pretty cool Zoids too." She continued. "I mean, you've got an Iron Kong and that' pretty cool because the IK is a pretty classic design and its one that's pretty hard to go wrong with and that ones got all the gear like them Pink Kongs (I mean, that's what PK stands for right? It is kinda pink and all) and that really kicks arse. Trust me, sis, Kongs are tough in a fight, especially when they've got the thruster pack and you do not want to be on the receiving end of a punch from one, yes indeed you better believe it."

"I've seen what happens when Stephen punches something with that Zoid." She commented. "It stays punched."

"Well it can crush a Leostriker in one hit, did you know that?" Violet continued. "I say a Leostriker because I saw an Iron Kong do that once and actually I think it was a Pink Kong. Anyways that's cool and the Gunsniper is also pretty neat because its a rather psychotically over armed Zoid for its size and you can kick a lot of arse in one of those, especially if you can get to cover and stuff and they say that Gunsnipers are smart Zoids and they can learn from their pilots and it makes me wonder if that Gunsniper has learned anything."

_Probably how to steal potato chips, _she thought. "No idea." She added.

"Oh, and you've got a Black Redler too!" Violet added, patently not noticing what Rose had said. "You said there was a Redler but you didn't say it was a Black Redler and that's really surprising because they're pretty rare and rather dangerous because they're all stealthy and elusive and stuff and the way that the Redler there is set up is pretty weird with the Flexible Boosters on the wings because I've never seen one like that and I'd say that its pretty dammed unique and I like it." She finished.

"Well, Tasch is a pretty... unique and unusual person" Rose explained. _But then, you're pretty unique in your own way. I still can't believe it that you and her can carry on coherent conversations._

"Yeah, that's a pretty cool lot of Zoids but I think that in the end I'll probably still be a pointy cat person." Violet explained. "Its got all the speed and agilty and stuff that I like and its pretty funky and I like the colours and besides which I noticed that pointy cats seem to run in the family. I mean, you have your Zero and I have my Zero Phoenix and dad has his Shield Liger that he kicked so much arse in and managed to get to the championship in which was a real surprise to everyone apparently, what with Shieldys being so underrated and all and then there's, uh..." She trailed off.

"...yeah." Rose nodded.

"Say, how are mum and dad doing?" Violet asked. "I mean, I know you haven't seen them in a while but I know that I haven't seen them for longer and you've probably been in more regular contact with them what with your being in one place for a lot longer then me so you can exchange long letters or e-mails or stuff rather then me who just sends off the odd postcard or maybe an e-mail and I usually don't have that much to say, actually. But then they'd probably also have a better idea of how you're doing and what you're up to by simply following the sports reports and watching what's going on because you know Dad obsessively watched during my season and he probably is going to for you too."

"I guess they are." Rose replied. "I know that they're both doing fine. I do talk to them every now and then and send letters and e-mails on occasion." In truth, she felt that she was being a little slack. "But they sound good."

"So how's about it, sis?" Violet suddenly butted in. "I don't want to pry but, you know me, I love to know what's going on with you and how things are hanging... and sooooo... are you with anyone at the moment? I mean, heck, you're sharing your base with a pair of rather eligible looking bachelors and Stephen looks kinda hunky and is pretty tall and buff if a bit plain around the face and that Neil guy's kinda cute even if you do tower over him or is it that there's someone else you're seeing? Come on, sis, its not like I'm gonna tell anyone." She needled.

"Well..." Rose blushed a bit. "There's a guy who I'm not so much seeing but I am kinda friendly with anyways. He's a member of another team, one that we fought recently. His name's Drake Stone and he's-"

"Drake Stone?" She squealed out. "OHMIGORD! He is such a hunk isn't he? And he's so cool and he's such a great pilot to boot. I mean, I fought him for the grand final in my championship year and he was pretty damned hard to beat. But forget about his mad Zoid skills, you've got a prize catch there. I mean, he's so buff and he's so polite and he's very well mannered and his hair is sooo damned cool. So are you actually **with** with him or is it just a friendship thing that you're hoping to make into more?"

"Well, its just a friendship thing so far." She replied, blushing some more. "I didn't know that you two knew each other."

"It was only a bit." Violet replied dismissively. "We talked a bit and stuff after battles but we never went out or anything like that but then you guys are dearly a lot further down the road then I was if you're at a friendship thing stage because we only got to the stage of talking to each other on occasion and complimenting each other on our piloting skills and how we did on the battle but on the other hand it could have just been just us trying to figure the other one out before our battle."

"I see..." Rose nodded.

"Hey guys!" Neil called out as he stepped into the hanger, cutting off anything Violet may have said. "We've got another battle scheduled."

"Cool." Rose looked up to him. "Any idea who it's against?"

"Some team called the Steel Sirens." He replied. "I don't know much about them."

"Steel Sirens..." Violet began. "Nope, I've never heard of them at all. But then they could be a new team I guess. I mean a lot of new teams could have formed since I've been away and this could be one of them or it could have formed out of several other teams or members of other teams or it could be some other team that's been renamed because every now and then a team does rename itself especially if there's a new team leader who takes over and he decides that the team's name doesn't suit what he wants for the team."

"Did you understand a word of that?" Neil asked.

Rose nodded, then turned back to her sister. "Tell you what, Violet. Do you want to come along to see the battle? I mean, I know I can't guarantee you a seat or anything, but..."

"Its cool, sis." Violet replied. "After all, I know a few people who know a few people and besides which I think that as a former ZBC champ I'd be able to pull a few strings or beat a few people up and probably get myself a halfway decent seat anyways. But don't doubt it, sis. One way or another, I'll be there for you, rooting for ya all the way. I mean, this is a golden opportunity to watch my baby sister and her pals kick some arse and I'm damned if I'm gonna pass that up. And i can also see if there's anyone else I know around and maybe say hi to them and see what they're up to."

"That's good to hear." Rose replied, wondering if Violet's presence would be a good thing or a bad thing.

One wall of each of the team meeting rooms in the ZBC arenas consisted of a wide pane window that looked out over the team's Zoid hanger. In general, Zoid pilots liked to look over their Zoids prior to a battle, and the presence of the viewing windows allowed them to check on things while planning for the battle. It was a simple luxury, but one that went a long way towards improving the overall pilot performance.

Vanessa Baker, the leader of the Steel Sirens, turned away form the window to look over her team. Dressed in a rather plain, of form-fitting charcoal grey jumpsuit, she had rather big hair that had been obviously coloured bright red with a black streak in the middle. "Okay team, this is a big one." She began. "We've got a challenge ahead of us today. This battle is not going to be easy, but I think that we can handle it if we remain focused."

She knew that her pilots were capable and that their teamwork was good, but at the same time, she knew that they weren't invincible. The secret to their success was their focus and drive, their ability to stay on target and not get distracted. And today's battle would be a real test of those strengths. "The team we're going up against is made up of amateurs. However, I do not want you to underestimate them because of this. They're all very skilled and have had a considerable degree of success so far. They're also still undefeated, which should give you an idea of their skill."

"We'll have to do something about that." Leticia Mayrose, her second in command spoke up. The tallest of the team, she had long dark brown hair with lighter streaks, pale skin and dark blue eyes that were emphasised by her dark eye shadow. She was dressed in a rather stylish backless purple flightsuit, with a pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose for no reason other then to look cool. Despite this, Vanessa knew that she was a skilled pilot. She wouldn't have hired her otherwise.

"It won't be easy." She continued. "They severely outmass us. The Iron Kong alone weighs more then most of our team, and its amour is thick enough to resist most anything we can throw at it. Leticia, I want you and Keiko to focus on it first and try to get it out of action as quickly as possible."

Keikio, now dressed in a form fitting silver and green bodysuit, nodded. "I should be able to handle it. If you can keep the Redler of my back, it'll be relatively easy."

"Yeah, Keiko and I had a look over some of their battles." Michelle Levesque, the last member of the team spoke up. Like Keiko, she was now dressed in her pilot's suit; a black and gold bodysuit that she left unzipped at the front. "I think that we can handle things."

"Do tell." Vanessa looked over them.

"Well, we know that not only is the Gunsniper the weakest Zoid on the team, but its pilot is the weakest of them." Keiko spoke up. "He seems to hardly ever get any kills."

"He knocked out two of the Venom team." Leticia dryly observed. "That should tell you something."

"Well, yeah, but that's the Venom team." Michelle replied, a sarcastic tone in her voice.. "And Vanessa knows how much of a threat they are." She giggled.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Certainly." She muttered. "Anyway, I think that the Gunsniper is the least of our worries. But don't take your eyes off it, Michelle. I want you to focus on the Zero. Do it how we discussed - fast strikes. Don't try to get in close to it. Leticia, you will provide fire support to her as well; try to pin it down. But if you get the chance to take a quick shot at the Gunsniper, don't hesitate to take it out."

"Certainly. As long as Keiko can take the Kong out quickly, I know that I won't have any problems. I've got more then enough firepower to bring that Zoid down. And I doubt that the pilot is going to be up to too much."

"It's easy." She replied. "I know the way he fights. One missile volley will be enough to finish him."

"And you don't have to worry about the Zero either." Michelle added. "I can handle things fine."

"That only leaves the Redler." Leticia spoke up. "Now, do you think you can handle it?"

Vanessa nodded. "The pilot thinks that they can pull a few tricks, but I think that I have their number. All I have to do is keep moving and stay away from any support that their -" She was cut off by a knock at the door. "Just a second."

She walked over to the door to the room and opened it up. "Whoever you are." She began before she even checked ot see who it was. "Come back later. This is an important meeting."

"Hey Vanessa!" A voice called out. "Long time no see, huh?"

Vanessa stepped back for a moment as a woman stepped into the room. There was no mistaking her; the better part of two meters tall, stupidly long legs and dressed in a violent purple, black and neon-pink ensemble, there was only one person it could be. "Violet O'Bannon!" She began. "Long time, huh?"

"Damn right it is!" Violet exclaimed. "I haven't seen you since, well, the last time I was in town which was just after I won my championship, which was, what two years ago now? One and a half? Something like that. At any rate, I thought that since I was in town and I was passing by and you had a match on today that I'd drop by and say hello and stuff. I abused a few old contacts to let me get in here backstage so that I could pop down here and say hi to one of my old friends and see how she was doing... and what do you know, there's a few others here too."

"Yeah." Vanessa began. "Its good to see you too, Violet, but I'm-"

"And so how are you doing?" Violet continued, not paying any attention to what she was saying. "I can see that you've got your own team here now which is really, really cool what with you being such a good leader and all. I mean, I thought that you should have always been the leader of the Outlaws because you sure as heck knew more about running a team then its actual leader did and you kicked so much arse in that Raynos of yours and had the best kill rate on the team if I recall correctly. Speaking of which, are you still with Larry? I mean, I know that you and him were kinda going out and all."

"Well-" She tried to speak up, wanting to tell Violet what exactly she thought of her former teammate and, more importantly, that she was very busy right now.

She never got a chance. "But I'm guessing by the fact that he's not in this room and thus by extension not on the team that he's been dumped or something, right? For some reason that doesn't surprise me. I mean, he always struck me as a bit of a coward, what with that whole 'I've got a stealth Zoid, that's my justification for always hiding in the battle' act he had going on. Heck, I can see form the looks of things you've used this as the opportunity to form that whole 'grrl power' team concept you had hanging around and wanted to do some day. I mean, all the pilots here are girls."

"Well, yes." Vanessa continued. "But-"

"Speaking of which..." Violet bounced over to where her second was sitting, planting both her hands on Leticia's shoulders. "How's ya going, Leticia? I shoulda figured that if anyone would be on this team it'd have been you. I mean, you were easily the best pilots of the 'Night Children' and the only one who wasn't a poseur. I mean, you had the whole 'pale skin and dark eyes' thing naturally rather then needing lots of makeup and black lace like the rest of those clowns did because you did it so naturally and looked so much better then the rest of them did and you were a good pilot too. I mean, anyone who uses a Stylarmour has to be either very good, very brave or very stupid, right?"

"Yes." Leticia choked out though clenched teeth as her glasses slowly slid further down her nose. "I guess so."

"And how are you going Keiko?" She yelled out, shouting past Leticia's ear. Violet vaulted across the table, landing next to her. "I haven't seen you in forever either. I'm guessing that you're no longer in Firestorm either because you're here and not with them, wherever the hell they are and thus, by extinction, you're no longer snogging whatsisface, their team leader, right? I guess not because that would probably just complicate matters and, well, everyone figured that you two it was all about the sex and less about any sort of relationship or anything like that."

Keiko managed to remain impassive, despite digging her nails into the table's finish. "Yes... I left them a while ago." She managed.

"Good on ya!" Violet exclaimed. "And good to see you..." She turned to look at Michelle. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Um..." Michelle replied. "My names Michelle... I'm new here."

"Well, good on ya, Michelle!" Violet called out. "You're in real good hands here with these guys. They'll treat ya real good, and they can kick some serious butt! In fact, I'd wish you a bucket load of luck except for the fact that I've got a vested interest in rooting for the other team. But good luck anyways, 'cause I know you're going to need it!"

"Thank you for that." She nervously finished, grinning in a worried way.

"Sure thing! Well, I gotta go, I got a premier seat saved for me and I want to get there early to get snacks first. See you guys on the battlefield! Love you all and let's not be strangers for so long next time. See yas!" She leapt over the table and bounded out of the room.

There was a long silence. Finally, Michelle spoke up. "Who the hell was that?" She began.

"That was Violet O'Bannon." Vanessa replied, an apprehensive tone in her voice. "She was the champion two years ago."

"She retired undefeated, still the champion." Leticia added. "She's one of the youngest ever champions, and has one of the fastest rises from rookie to champ ever."

"Hang on... O'Bannon, right?" Keiko spoke up. "There's a Rose O'Bannon in the team we're fighting. In fact, she's the Zero pilot."

"And Violet Piloted a Zero Phoenix." Leticia observed.

"Liger Zero... O'Bannon... floral name..." Vanessa analysed it. "Oh hell. There's another one of them." She looked over the team. "She's got a sister or something. She's got family."

The thought sent a collective shudder through the team.

"Good afternoon sports fans and welcome back to the show!" Henry Urgleflogger called from his spot in the commentary booth overlooking the arena. "For those of you just joining us, I'm Henry J. Urgleflogger and with me is 'Big' Jim Beef and it has been a spectacular day of competition so far."

"That's right, Henry." Jim continued. "Today's' matches so far have been great stuff; we've seen a lot of skill and energy out there on the battlefield today. However, I get the feeling that the best is yet to come."

"I think I have to agree with you there, Jim." Henry replied. "Up next we have the Broken Chairs, an up and coming team of amateurs who have taken the competition by storm. So far this season they've managed to remain undefeated, which is no mean feat. In fact, the question on many people's lips has become this. Who will be the team to break the Broken Chairs?"

"Well, today's opponents may just be the ones to do it." Jim offered. "The Steel Sirens are a very experienced, very capable team. They've also managed to get this far in the season without a defeat. The Broken Chairs may just have met their match this time."

"Not to mention they're not too bad to look at." Henry quipped. "Three of the team's members are some of the most skilled - and best looking - pilots in the ZBC today."

"You're hopeless." Jim muttered.

"Speaking of pilots who are both attractive and capable," Henry continued, unabated. "I've just heard that former ZBC champion Violet O'Bannon is in the audience today. I wonder if she's checking out what's happening before a possible return to the competition, Jim."

"Well, if you checked over the teams, you'd see that there's a Rose O'Bannon in the Broken Chairs, Henry." Jim observed. "Now I couldn't say for sure, but I'd hazard a guess that she's a relative of Violet's. After all, she's using the same type of Zoid."

"Well, you could be right for once, Jim." Henry jokingly replied. "Speaking of which, here come the Broken Chairs now."

Down in the arena, the doors at one end opened up, a quartet of Zoids stepping outside. A massive red and grey Iron Kong towered over the other three Zoids, a Liger Zero, a Gunsniper and a black Redler. The Zoids halted just by the doors, waiting for their opponents to arrive.

"The Broken Chairs rather diverse combination of Zoids have been a key part of their successes." Jim commented. "But we'll have to see about how they do against the Sirens and their more concentrated offence."

Across the other end of the arena, the second set of doors opened up to allow a quartet of Zoids to enter. At the lead of the formation was a a black and yellow Lightning Saix, the sleek feline Zoid seemingly glaring at the opponents across the other side of the field. A Raynos walked out to one side of it, while a rather unusual black and dull red Zoid waked out on the other side. The Machine was quadruped, but with surprisingly long and slender legs supporting a thick body. A trio of horns projected form its head, while a pair of gattling guns were mounted on its back. Finally, a lance-equipped Hammerhead hovered out behind them.

"With their two flying Zoids and the Lighting Saix, the Steel Sirens definitely have the speed advantage." Jim continued. "But they're still short on firepower compared to that Iron Kong. On the other hand, their use of a three Zoid Fuzor, the Stylustorm, may be enough to tip things to their advantage."

"Three Zoid Fuzor?" Henry asked.

"The Stylustrom combines a Stylarmour with both a Scissor Storm and a Laser Storm." He explained. "It can put out a devastating barrage of fire from its twin canons, then close in for the kill with its powerful Chain Scissors."

"And here comes the Judge Drone now." Henry continued. "Keep watching folks, the show is about to begin."

"The Broken Chairs versus the Steel Sirens." The electronic voice of the drone began. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

As soon as the signal was given to begin, three of the Zoids took to the air. Keiko's Hammerhead lifted off the ground, rising into the air but not moving too far. In front of it, Vanessa's Raynos took several hopping steps forwards then leaping into the air. She could also see that the enemy Redler wasn't waiting around, also lifting straight up.

"Remember the plan, team." Vanessa began over the team's comm link while her Zoid soared towards the enemy Redler. "Take out the enemy team as we covered. I'll keep the Redler off your back."

"Sure." Keiko replied, then closed the link. She quickly sized up the enemy team as her Hammerhead sped towards them. The Iron Kong loomed up large at the end of the arena, easily the largest Zoid present and her primary target. Near it, she could see the Liger Zero, running towards her team mates. The plan was for Michelle to take it out while she dealt with the Iron Kong, which seemed simple enough.

Of course, this was the same Liger Zero that was piloted by the younger sister of a former ZBC champion. A former ZBC champion who had the second fastest ever rise from Rookie to Champ. A former ZBC champion who had just burst into their meeting room and humiliated her in front of the rest of her team by blurting out all the details of her previous relationship. Needless to say, that had made her rather unhappy.

She clenched the control stick, her knuckles turning white as she glared at the Liger Zero. While she liked to pretend to be clam, cool and sophisticated, there were two things that Keiko couldn't stand. Being humiliated was one of them. She had spent years building up a professional image, one of a dedicated sportswoman and team member; an intelligent and capable woman who could be relied upon to help deliver a team to victory. There should be nothing that anyone could embarrass her over. But if they did, it tended to get her very, very angry.

The other thing she couldn't stand was small children. She just found them to be incredibly annoying.

She wanted to get back at Violet for what she had done to her. Of course, since Violet was not competing, there was no direct way to do it. Glancing down, she could see the Zero, dodging fire form the other members of her team as it tried to close in with them. An idea began to form; if she couldn't get her revenge on Violet directly, then she could do it though eliminating her sister from the battle.

And if she managed to take out two members of the enemy team, then Miles would probably be even more financially grateful.

The Hammerhead's targeting systems locked up both the Liger Zero and the Iron Kong, painting targeting boxes around both of them on the HUD. "Hey Violet, I've got a little message for you." She gleefully began as she thumbed the trigger. "Nobody messes with me."

The six vertical-launch silos on the Hammerhead's back opened up, its half dozen missiles soaring into the air before veering off towards their targets. Three of them turned around and streaked towards the Iron Kong, while the other three dived towards the Liger Zero, rather then all six at the one target as the original plan had indicated. Keiko grinned as she watched the missiles head for their targets. "You can't escape me now." She smirked to herself. "Tell Violet I said 'hi.'"

The Iron Kong fired its huge thrusters and leaped to one side, just as she had predicted it would. Its pilot, however, had made one key mistake; he'd underestimated the capabilities of her weapons. The trio if high-maneuver missiles swung around, managing to track the Iron Kong despite its sudden movement, still closing in on it. Just as it looked like it was about to be hit, however, the enemy Zoid did something she genuinely didn't expect.

The Iron Kong slammed one of its fists into the ground, swinging around on it as it continued to fire the thrusters. Then, as it was coming around, it swung open the hatch on its shoulder and opened fire with a volley of missiles from the concealed launcher. The Kong's missiles slammed into her own, blowing them out of the air. Then, before she knew it, a second volley streaked towards the Zero, blowing apart the trio heading towards it.

She snarled as she saw the results of her attack. Both Zoids had escaped her volley of missiles unharmed, and she had expended her most powerful weapon. That the Iron Kong had to expend all the missiles in its launcher to do so was a small consolation to her.

"Keiko!" Vanessa called out over the communicator. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I-" She began.

"Stick to the plan!" She yelled out. "You've blown our chance for a quick win!"

"But-"

"No arguments!" Vanessa continued. "Leticia, take out the Kong. Keiko will support you."

"Certainly." Leticia cooly replied.

"Yes, boss." Keiko added, quietly fuming to herself. The last thing she wanted was to be someone's second fiddle. Snarling, she opened up the Hammerhead's throttle, heading straight for the Iron Kong. Below her, the Stylustorm charged forwards, both of its gattling cannons blazing.

Looking out the other side of the cockpit, she could see the Zero trading fire with the Lighting Saix. She glared at the Zoid before moving on. _I'll deal with you later._

"Hey Keiko!" Michelle called out. "I've got this one in the bag easy." She began, an almost taunting tone in her voice. "Maybe I should move onto the Kong once I'm done. I guess you could take care of the Gunsniper."

Her only reply was to narrow her eyes and quietly snarl.

Neil's Gunsniper sprinted across the arena, heading around its side as he tried to get closer to the enemy's line. These guys were proving to be very tightly focused, which was proving to be a problem for them. Normally there would be at least one flake going out of his way to be a pain, which was a weakness that they could exploit. Unfortunately, these guys seemed to be smarter then that.

Down the far end of the field, the Stylarmour Chimera thing was steadily advancing, blazing away with its twin Storm Gattlings as it went. With the fire it could put out, that Zoid could easily pin down or threaten either the Iron Kong or the Liger Zero. It was also, he noted, more then enough to knock his Gunsniper out of action.

The only good news was that they seemed to be ignoring him so far. This was pretty much what he wanted, for the enemy to ignore him and his Zoid. A lot of opponents tended to do that, seeing his Gunsniper as being rather small and comparatively harmless, and the other members of the team being far more of a threat then he was. Neil didn't mind at all. In fact, he encouraged that attitude. He'd done very well off that simply because of opponents ignoring him and focusing on other people.

A beep on his sensors told him that another Zoid was approaching him; in this case, the Lighting Saix. He twisted the Zoid's controls to one side as the enemy Zoid charged towards him, seemingly coming right for him. _So much for being ignored, _he thought as his Gunsniper scampered out of the enemy machines's way. The Saix tore past him but, to his surprise, didn't come around to attack him again. Rather, it sprinted towards Rose's Zero, opening fire on it with the twin beam cannons.

"Hey!" He called out. "Come back here! I'm not that uninteresting am-" He was cut off by a burst of fire peppering the ground near his Zoid as one of the Stylustorm's cannons turned towards him. Firing the boosters, he accelerated the Gunsniper away from the other Zoid, trying to get out of its arc of fire. At the same time, he opened fire with one of the wrist gattlings, spraying shots at the enemy Fuzor. Several rounds hit it, bouncing off the armoured plate on its forelegs without any apparent effect.

To his annoyance, the Stylarmour continued to head downfield while still keeping one of the Gattlings trained on him. The cannon spewed shots at him, several of them striking the Gunsniper in the flank. The Zoid stumbled, the force of the attack almost knocking it off its feet. As he fought with the controls, the Styularmour galloped away, its pilot apparently figuring that he was out of action or, at the very least, no longer a threat.

He bought the Gunsniper upright, turning to face the enemy Zoid. The Styluarmour had its back to him and was heading away, which seemed to be a good enough opportunity for him. His Gunsniper broke into a run, charging towards the enemy Zoid from behind, while Neil lined it up in his sights.

Before he could open fire, however, the Styluarmour's pilot spotted him first. The Zoids' sword-like tail turned to face him, a crackling electric charge building up across its body. Then it fired, sending a single projectile tearing towards his Zoid at high speed. _Yow! That thing's got a BFG as a tailgun? _The Gunsniper twisted out of the line of fire of the enemy Zoid, the projectile hitting the ground next to it and then bouncing up to slam into a wall. _Okay, not that way either. Damn it, how do I get to that thing?_

"Neil!" Rose called out over the communicator. "I could use a little help here!"

"I could too!" He called back as the Gunsniper scampered away from the Stylustorm. The Enemy Fuzor gave him a quick glance, then turned back to facing the Iron Kong, both guns now trained on it. "Okay, you've got a minute before the triphibian monster there decides to chew on me again."

"Good." Rose snapped. "Anything would be nice!" Her Zero leaped to one side as the Saix opened fire on it, the shots only narrowly missing it. Not deterred, the enemy pilot opened fire with the head Vulcans. Several shots sprayed the side of the Zero, tearing into the armour over its hip. "This little creep is being dangerously persistent!"

Rose managed to bring her own Zoid around, opening fire with the dual impact cannon. To her annoyance, the Lightning Saix was able leap out of the way of the shot, then charge straight at her own Zoid, leaping into the air. The Saix's strike laser claws traced a brilliant golden arc through the air. The Zero skipped out of the way, the Saix coming down right where it had been. Before the Zero could react, the Saix fired its boosters, again taking off and sprinting away from the other Zoid.

Rose flicked out the Zero's tail, opening fire with the cannon mounted on its end. The shots went wide, the Saix managing to sprint away before she could find her mark. The Zero turned around, running after the Saix but clearly being left behind by it as the Zoid sped off. "Like I said..." she gasped out over the communicator. "Dangerously persistent."

"I gotcha." Neil began. "I'll try to think of something." The Gunsniper sprinted towards the Saix, opening fire with its twin wrist cannons. The shots peppered the ground around it, several managing to hit the Zoid on its flank as it ran. The shots gouged into the armour, but didn't appear to do too much beyond that.

Unfortunately for Neil, it did manage to get the pilot's attention. The Lightning Saix turned towards the Gunsniper, now charging straight at it. The Zoid opened fire again with the head Vulcans, the dual cannons spraying fire at Neil's Zoid. Several more shots chewed into the Zoids damaged flank and leg as he tried to twist it out of the enemy machine's line of fire. The Zoid tore path him at speed, further buffeting him as it accelerated past.

Fighting with the controls, Neil managed to keep the Gunsniper upright as he swung it around on its good leg. The Zoid turned to face the fleeing Saix, the twin rocket pods on its back flipping open. The Gunsniper rocked on its feet, its damaged leg shaking and threatening to give way as all sixteen rockets blasted out from the launcher, heading straight for the Saix. Before the enemy pilot could react, they slammed into its hindquarters, literally lifting the Zoid off its feet. The Lighting Saix flipped over, rolling and bouncing before coming to a halt in a tangled mess of limbs.

"Nice work, Neil!" Rose called out. "You did it! You took her out."

"Yeah..." He commented as he looked over the downed enemy Zoid while checking his own damage indicators. "I guess I did."

The Stylustorm opened fire with its twin Gattling Cannons, spewing forth brilliant blue energy beams at the Iron Kong. Several of the rounds slammed into the Zoid's chest, rocking the huge Zoid despite its mass. Opening up the throttle, Steven knuckled out of the other Zoid's line of fire, then opened up with the wrist cannons. Several shots struck the enemy Zoid, but bounced off its thick neck shield.

Several more shots peppered the Iron Kong form behind, slamming into its back and shoulder. Checking the sensors, he could see that the Hammer Head had swung around and was trying to take him from behind, the pair of them aiming to sandwich him between their fire. Even without its main missile battery and most of its secondary weapons replaced with the Viking Lance, the Hammerhead could still pack a considerable punch. Of course, the Lance posed other problems.

He fired the boosters again, the Kong turning out of the line of fire of the other Zoid. The Hammerhead blazed past him, pulling away from his Zoid before he could open fire on it. As the enemy pilot pulled away, they fired several volleys from their tail gun; less to knock him out and more to discourage him from trying anything.

"This is nuts." He growled as one of the shots bounced off the Kong's shoulder armour. He couldn't get a clean shot at either of them because of the amount of fire they were pouring onto him. If he could get one of them distracted fro a moment, then he might have a chance. Might. "Tasch!" He called over the communicator. "Can you help me out here?"

"Well, I'd love ta." She replied. "But I right now I got a bit of trouble."

The Black Redler zipped past, its twin boosters on full bore. A moment later, there was a burst of gunfire followed by the Raynos, trying to close the distance between the two of them and get a clean shot on its opponent. The Redler's boosters suddenly twisted to the right, the Zoid frantically rolling out of the way of its opponent, then climbing away.

The Raynos banked sharply, its pilot doing her best to keep Tasch's Zoid in its sights. The pair of them climbed away, their paths crossing over and back from each other in a classic scissor-fight pattern, small bursts of fire occasionally erupting between the pair of them.

_Okay, so no air support for now. _"Rose? How are you going?"

"Battered, but passable." She reported. "What do you need?"

"Can you try and tie up the Stylarmour for a bit?" As he spoke he opened up the throttle, the Iron Kong lumbering along at high speed out of the path of the enemy Fuzor's fire. Checking the sensors, he could see the Hammerhead approaching for another attack run. "Even if just ofr a minute or two."

"I'll see what I can do." She replied.

"Thanks. Neil? How are you doing?"

"One of my legs is bung. I can possibly limp along, but that's about it." He explained. "But I'm a good distance from any of the bad guys that are still standing."

The Iron Kong skidded around, Stephen raising its left arm to fire on the Hammerhead. The shots peppered its hull, doing some damage and causing the pilot to break off their attack. At the same time, Rose charged across the battlefield, heading for the Styluarmour. The Zero twisted and leaped as it ran, managing to keep out of its line of fire, despite the high number of shots it was pumping out from the two cannons.

Rose lunged at the Stylarmour, the Zero's claws glowing as they prepared to strike. Before she could land a blow, the Stylarmour bellowed and swung around its head, slamming into the Zero's side with its horns. Rose's Zoid was knocked aside, crashing to the ground before rolling and managing to regain its footing.

Not wanting to give her a chance to strike again, the enemy pilot opened fore again with the twin Storm Gattlings. Several rounds slammed into the Zero before it broke into a run, sprinting away form the enemy Fuzor Zoid. The Stylarmour turned to follow it, keeping its cannons trained on Rose's machine. The twin cannons spat fire, the Zero sprinting away from them.

Stephen watched the situation for a moment before turning back to the Hammerhead. He opened fire again, another burst of shots from the pulse cannon narrowly missing the Hammerhead, but still forcing it to climb up and away from him. Satisfied that he had discouraged the enemy pilot for the moment, he turned his attention to the other Zoid. Near as he could tell, there was one good way to get rid of it without getting too close to those damned cannons.

"Rose!" He called out. "Run!" The Iron Kong turned to face the Fuzor, its hands smashing down onto the ground to stabilise it. The two massive tactical missiles on the Zoid's back launched, trailing thick plumes of smoke as they climbed into the air. On the other side of the field, the Liger Zero, its pilot knowing what was about to happen, sprinted away from the Styluarmour.

The Stylarmour's pilot had other plans, however. The enemy Zoid crouched, rising its tail into the air. The Laser Array on the top of the tail came to life, the beams slashing through the air towards the twin missiles. Several beams pierced through the first one, detonating it and sending it up in a spectacular fireball. A few moments later, the lasers found the second missile, blowing it apart too.

"Aw come on!" Stephen shouted out. "Goddamn laser array..." The sensors beeped to warn him that the Hammerhead was coming around to strike him again. The enemy Zoid dived at the Iron Kong, its canons blazing away. He bought is Zoid around to face it, then saw what it was doing. Rather then its usual hit and run attacks, this time, the enemy Zoid was literally, diving straight for him, its Viking Lance set to impale the Zoid.

Seeing no other option, Stephen aimed the Hyperbeam cannon at the enemy Zoid. The weapon usually lacked the rate of fire to be effective against airborne targets, but this time he could see its use. The cannon fired, the beam streaking towards the incoming Hammerhead. The shot struck home, blasting the Lance apart and then tearing into the Hammerhead's side, blasting two of the engines free form its body. The crippled Zoid began to plummet, diving straight at the Iron Kong.

Seeing an opportunity, Stephen had the massive Gorilla Zoid reached up and grabbed the damaged Hammerhead. "Rose!" He shouted out over the communicator. "Move! Now!"

"Wha?" She called back. "I've got a face full of angry Fuzor-"

"God damn it, just do it!" He yelled out.

"Whoah, okay!" She shouted. The Zero fired its boosters, leaping away form the enemy Zoid.

Seeing that she was out of the way, Stephen stomped on the foot pedals that activated the Kong's maneuver thrusters. The massive Zoid spun around, then let go of the Hammerhead, sending the crippled Zoid hurling towards the Stylustorm. The Fuzor twisted out of the path of the improvised projectile, but still ended up being slammed by it, sending it sprawling. The Hammerhead skidded to a halt nearby, clearly disabled.

"Now, Rose!" He shouted out.

"I see it!" She yeled back. The Zero leaped across the battlefield, charging at the Stylustorm before it could recover. The Zero's impact cannon opened fire, blasting into the Stylustorm's side, further staggering the Zoid as its pilot tried to regain control of the machine.

"Okay, Vi, I hope you're watching this." She said to herself, grinning as the Liger leaped at the enemy Zoid. The Zero roared loudly as it bought its Strike Laser Claw down on the Styluarmour. The beams sliced through its body, shattering the neck shield and the chain scissors, before continuing through into the Zoid's frail structure. The Fuzor bellowed loudly as the Zero's claws sliced through it, then collapsed.

"Yeah!" She called out as she glanced back at the downed Zoid. "Nice work there, Stephen. They can't have seen that coming." She sat back and laughed. "Fish to the face... that is a classic."

Tasch knew that she was in trouble the instant that she saw the Raynos heading straight for her. The enemy Zoid hadn't wasted time with subtlety, instead flying straight at her Redler, its chest cannon blazing away. With only very little time to react, Tasch had manage to swerve out of the way, narrowly avoiding the other Zoid's fire.

The Raynos pilot reacted quickly, turning her Zoid to follow the Redler. Tasch opened up the boosters all the way, pulling back on the stick and going into a vertical climb away from the Raynos. The enemy Zoid fired its own booster, climbing after her. Despite her boosters, the Raynos was doing a very good job of chasing her down. The two Zoids were almost matching their speeds and acceleration.

Tasch knew that this wouldn't be an easy battle. The Raynos was created specifically to defeat the Redler in battle, and boasted superior agility and firepower to her Zoid. Of course, with her flexible boosters she had some advantages.

"Okay, let's see ya'll try this!" Tasch announced to herself as she twisted the footpedals. The Redler's boosters slewed around, the Zoid performing a surprisingly sharp turn in mid-air, coming around to face the Raynos head-on. The Redler screeched loudly as it dived on its target, Tasch opening fire with the twin beam cannons on the Zoid's wings.

The Raynos twisted and turned in the air, several shots narrowly avoiding it before one skimmed across its wing. Apparently unaffected by the hit, the Raynos still banked away, twisting out of Tasch's line of fire. "Hey! You ain't gettin' away from me that easy!" She called out as she turned the Redler to pursue its opponent. She dived on the Raynos, trying to line up the enemy Zoid in her gunsights. "I got you now."

Before she could fire, the Raynos opened up with the twin cannons mounted on its tail. Several shots struck the Redler's side and back before Tasch could react, twisting out of the other Zoid's line of fire. "Dangit, I forgot about them." She muttered to herself as the Redler came around. "That's gonna make things a lot harder."

The enemy Zoid came around, turning in a surprisingly sharp arc and closing in on the Redler's tail. Tasch rolled the Redler sharply to the right just as the Raynos opened fire again with its cannons. The shots tore through the air where the Redler had been, narrowly missing the Zoid. The Raynos' pilot turned to follow the Redler, again opening fire with the cannons.

Tasch twisted the controls back, cutting back on the throttle as the Raynos closed in on her. The Redler cut across the Raynos' path, managing to get behind and below the other Zoid. "Now I gotcha!" She called out, the Redler opening fire again with the booster cannons. Several shots struck the Raynos' underside before the other Zoid rolled away, firing the tail cannons at her own machine.

"Dangit, yer slippery!" Tasch shouted as she broke and rolled away from the Raynos. She hadn't expected the tail guns to be able to depress that far, which had caught her completely by surprise. The two Zoids pulled away from each other, then pulled back towards each other. Both pilots opened fire at the same time, shots filling the space between them to surprisingly little effect. As they closed, Tasch flicked out the Redler's tailblade, ready to strike. The two Zoids passed by each other, the Raynos only just remaining out of the reach of the blade... and her Redler only narrowly avoiding its claws.

"Dangit... that was too close." She muttered as she searched around for the other Zoid while trying to formulate a plan. She'd noticed that the Raynos didn't use its tailguns in the close passes, but only when she'd gotten into an advantageous position. "So she probably can't split her attention fast enough to take a quick shot at me... probably too busy keepin' her eyes on me." Tasch thought out loud. "So that sounds like the best plan... don't try to hang on her tail 'cause she can watch me too close."

She sighted the enemy Zoid out of her eye, coming around to close in with her. Twisting the controls, she turned to head straight for the enemy machine, pulling around inside a tight turn to try to get to the enemy Zoid's underside. The Raynos' rolled over, then closed in on her, opening fire again with its beam cannons. Several shots rocked the Redler, but at the same time, her own rounds struck the enemy Zoid, scarring the armour on its back and side.

The two Zoids again passed each other, Tasch stomping on the footpedals and twisting the boosters to try to pull a harder turn. The g-forces pressed her into her seat, electing a loud "omph" from her. However, it paid off for her, the Raynos crossing over her sights for a moment. Seeing a chance, she squeezed the trigger again, the Redler's beam cannons spiting fire at the Raynos.

The other Zoid fired its booster, quickly rolling out of the way of her shots as she accelerated towards it. She crossed its path again, the Raynos pilot trying to reduce thier speed to corner tighter. "Tasch!" Stephen called over the communicator. "Can you help me out here?"

"Well, I'd love ta." She replied. "But I right now I got a bit of trouble." The Raynos closed in from behind, opening fire with its beam cannons again on her. Several shots streaked past her Zoid, narrowly missing it. Tash pushed the controls, the Redler's boosters flexing downards, pushing her out of the Raynos' line of fire.

She quickly reduced the throttle, then suddenly twisted the boosters again, the Redler passing under the Raynos. Seeing a chance, she again opened fire with her beam cannons. Several shots struck the Raynos, savaging the armour on its leg and side. The other pilot suddenly twisted the controls, rolling out of the way of her Zoid. Wary of a burst form the tail cannons, Tasch again pulled away, widening the gap between the pair of them.

Twisting the booster controls, she again bought the Redler around and tried to close in on her opponent, managing to line up a shot on the Raynos with the cannons. Tasch squeezed the trigger, the shots narrowly missing the Raynos as the two Zoids closed in. She desperately fought with the controls, trying to close in on the Raynos while keeping it within her sights.

The Raynos twisted away, managing to evade Tasch's shots as she closed in. The Redler streaked past the Raynos, the other Zoid quickly rolling out of her path. As the Redler streaked past it, the Raynos rolled around, banking then turning to close in on the Redler's tail. Tasch violently twisted the controls, rolling her Zoid out of the way of the Raynos just as it opened fire with its cannons.

She dived away from the Raynos, opening up the throttle as she headed back down towards the arena. The Raynos banked and dived to follow her, again opening fire with the chest canons and filling the air aorund her with shots. Glancing back over her shoulder, Tasch twisted the controls, the Redler managing to evade the other Zoid's fire. She opened up the boosters again, trying to increase her lead over the other Zoid and break away.

The Raynos pilot was surprisingly persistent, however, managing to remain on her tail and even close the distance between the pair of them. "Okay, I gotta get this guy away form me." Tasch spoke to herself as she weaved her way through the other Zoid's fire, still descending towards the arena. "And I gotta stay focused and figure what to do. Okays, Tasch, You gotta get it together. C'mon, get it together."

She repeated this to herself as she dived towards the arena, pulling up and banking sharply. The Raynos followed her, opening fire again with its beam cannons. The shots streaked past her Zoid, tracing a line of fire across the arena floor and wall. Tasch glanced across the battlefield, trying to get a better idea of what was going on before pulling away again. "Hey..." She thought out to herself. "Okay. That's what I gotta do."

Even though they had been covering a surprisingly wide area, they had still been within what was defined as the arena's airspace. It was a lot larger then the area the arena covered, simply to allow dogfighting Zoids more room to move. However, they could only actually touch down inside the arena itself; landing anywhere else would count as being out of bounds and grounds for disqualification.

Tasch dived towards the arena floor again, the Raynos closing in on her from behind. As she swooped down, she suddenly pitched up the Redler's nose while, at the same time, twisting the boosters to push her downwards and killing the Redler's main engines, instead going into VTOL mode. The Redler landed in a crouch, pressing itself down and skidding across he area floor.

The Raynos pulled away from her at the last second, the pilot not willing to follow the Redler down to ground level, just as Tasch had suspected. As it pulled up, Tasch flipped up the boosters while making the Redler sit up, angling up the cannons as much as possible. Squeezing the trigger, she pumped rounds into the Raynos' tail as it tried to evade her. The shots slammed into the Raynos' back and tail, ripping through its body. Smoke billowed form the other Zoid as it tried to climb away, then suddenly lost control and instead crashed to the ground. The Zoid bounced once and then skidded to a halt.

"Well..." Tasch began. "Whadda ya know. It worked."

A monitor drone flew over the field, surveying the downed Zoids. "The battle is over!" It announced after a brief pause. "The winner is the Broken Chairs!"

Miles Slate looked at the monitor, quietly snarling as he watched each member of the Steel Sirens being knocked out of action. He'd been hoping for a lot from them in this battle and had been quietly predicting a win. At the very least, he figured, they should have been able to knock out at least one of the enemy Zoids. Instead, it seemed like they had completely fallen apart, their supposedly precise teamwork disintegrating into an ill-coordinated mess.

_Damn it, _he thought. _What happened to them?_

"Interesting tactics." Drake observed as he walked over next to Miles. "They are quite unconventional and very unexpected. Certainly I wouldn't have planned on having one of my teammates thrown at me."

"Well, no." Miles admitted.

"And it is quite a good battle." Drake continued. "The Chairs are doing quite well. They're a really good team, all things considered."

"I suppose so." He muttered.

"I mean, they did manage to beat us." Drake continued. "And while it was a close battle, I think that, with experince, they'd be rather capable."

"I suppose so..." Miles added. It was the last hting that he wanted to hear, actually. What he wanted was for the Chairs to be unsuccessful, for their win over his team to have been a one-off or a coincidence. What he wanted was for them to fall behind, to be defeated in some way that cost them heavily. Instead, they seemed to be doing better then he had expected, being able to overcome whatever it was that fate threw in their way.

He almost wished that NUBG would make another attempt at tem, if only to grind them down a little.

"Come on." Drake added, casually slapping him on the back. "We're on next. Besides, there's supposedly a former ZBC champ in the audience tonight. We do want to look good for them, right?"

"Yeah, right." He muttered in reply, glaring at the screen.

Stephen climbed out of his Iron Kong, looking over the damage to the Zoid's body. While none of its systems had been damaged, the armour damage was rather severe. He dropped down to the floor, looking around as the other members of his team also disembarked form their Zoids, and noticed the damage that they had all taken. Rose's Liger was in a similar state to the Iron Kong, with damage to much of the armour on its body. The damage to Neil's Gunsniper was limited largely to one leg, but the machine seemed to have developed a severe limp.

Most surprising, however, was Tasch's Redler. The black Zoid's armour was riddled with holes form its nose to its tail, with others on its wings and legs. From the looks of things, it was a sheer miracle that the Zoid hadn't suffered any severe damage. Still, it was easily the worst he had seen the Redler. So far, Tasch's Zoid had managed to come through just about every battle more or less unscathed.

The Zoid's canopy swung open, Tasch standing up inside the Zoid. Her cheeks were rather flushed, but otherwise she looked fine. "Well." She began as she looked over the Redler's body. "Dangit, that was a hard fight." She climbed out of the Zoid, walking over to the others. "Yeah, that was probably the hardest dogfight I've ever been in."

"You've been in two so far." Neil observed.

"Yeah, and it was the hardest of the two of them." Tasch replied. "Yeah, she was a lot harder then that Lord Gale."

"Still, you did rather well." Neil continued.

"Ah heck." She commented. "I didn't do that well. I mean, my Redler's all full of holes and stuff. And if I'd done well, it wouldn't be."

Neil shook his head. "You're so modest too."

"Really?" She asked. "Well, I guess I am. Especially compared to Rose... what with those silly low cut pants of hers."

"What's that about my pants?" Rose asked as she butted in.

"Well, they're rather low." Tasch commented. "And when you bend-"

"Good work, guys." Stephen spoke up as he stepped in, trying to prevent an argument before it began. "We took on a well-coordinated and experienced team there and managed to beat them out. And even if our Zoids took a bit of a beating, we still won."

"Hey, if anyone deserves the big cheers, its you." Neil spoke up. "I mean, throwing the Hammerhead at that Fzuor was brilliant. I doubt anyone saw it coming and, well, it's definitely going to make play of he week on the sports shows."

"Yeah... that was definitely the point where their team Jumped the Shark." Tasch commented. "Which is weird, cause the shark flew over them..."

"Don't think too hard about it." Rose joked. "You may hurt yourself."

'What I don't get is why do they call it 'Jumpin' the Shark'?" She continued. "I mean, is there something special about Hammerheads which means that you shouldn't jump over 'em? Or is it a Helldiver thing?"

"Well, I-" Neil began, but was cut off before he could finish.

"OMIGORD!" Violet squealed as she ran into the hanger, grabbing Rose in a spine-cracking hug. "You are fantastic, you know that? I mean, that was really, really well done! You managed to kick some arse out there and do it while looking really really awesome which is a surprise because I know the other team (Or at least, three of their members) and I know that they're pretty experienced and pretty dammed good but yet you were able to just walk all over them and kick their arses and you did great and it would have been really fun to see the look on Leticia's face when you carved up her Fuzor thing like that and I would have bet that she'd be having a severe sook by now."

"Uh, thanks Vi." Rose managed as she struggled free form her sister's death-grip. "It was a tough battle, I'll admit but I think we did well."

"Did well?" Violet asked. "Damn it, you did awesome to kick their arses like that and completely own them like that going nil-for-four in your favour which is the last result I would have expected against them but it is kinda weird because I know what Vanessa's like and I can imagine that she'd have a well-coordinated team and I have to wonder why they were all running around and being so unco and spazzy and I have to wonder if there wasn't some sorta inter-team strife but if so you'd have to ask yourself what caused it."

"Well, I think that if they had been better coordinated then we would have been in trouble." Stephen commented. "As they were, we had a hard enough time."

"Hard time, you?" Violet turned to him. "Can I just say now that what you did with that Hammerhead was pretty damned awesome and incredibly kickarse and I wouldn't have expected you to grab and hurl it like that especially not at another member of their team who certainly wouldn't have expected a flying fish missile to come at them like that but then it was a petty awesome move and it allowed you to get both of them out of action and I only hope they give you the points for the kill and that you don't get people making lame 'jump the shark' refs at you."

Stephen nodded, pretending to keep up with what she was saying. "Well, it was just a plan that came to me at the spur of the moment, really."

"Well I like it and I like it a lot." She grinned. "Speaking of cool, even though I don't know who it as in that Saix beyond it being some rookie I think that you did a great job of looking after it and knocking it out of action like that and certainly I don't imagine that the other guy expected to get a dozen or so missiles up the date like that and, besides which, how many people can say that they managed to punk out a Lightning Saix in a Gunsniper especially a stock one and not one of those over-armed monsters that so many people seem to use these days."

"Ah, its what I do." He replied. "I try to look harmless and then take them out when they ignore me. That's why I didn't do so well against the Stylarmour. Its pilot was paying attention."

"Well at any rate you did pretty cool work there." Violet continued. "But no offence to any of you but I think that the coolest performance out there today had to be Tasch because that dogfight she had against Vanessa was really awesome and I hadn't expected her to be able to match skills with a more experienced pilot so effectively and manage to even pull off a few tricks that she hadn't expected to do and what you did with those boosters was just crazy stuff and very, very cool which makes me wonder how you learned to do some of that stuff because I want to know your secrets."

"Ah, it ain't nothing really." Tasch replied. "Some of it I learned from my ex-boyfriend. A lot of the rest of it is all made up. I kinda just do whatever I need to do at the time."

"Well at any rate you did some really really crazy stuff up there and I was rather amazed at what you did and stuff like that." Violet babbled out. "And one day I think we'll have to have a dogfight with me just piloting the Phoenix portion of my Zoid and taking it up against that crazy Redler of yours and I'm still amazed that you managed to kick so much arse up there which makes me wonder how many dogfights you've been in I mean for real ones, not mock ones or simulators or stuff like that."

"Well, that was the second."

"The second?" Violet all but exploded. "That's totally amazing you know that? Its the last thing that I would have expected from you because you acted and moved like you were some sort of ace pilot with a zillion kills to her name pulling off some really crazy stunts of the sort that I'd expect out of a pro and not just someone who was only starting out and I dunno if its some sort of crazy Nyxian thing but you guys seem to be really tough fighters but then I guess you must be some sort of natural genius or the like and I really, really need to know what's your secret Tasch?"

"Well..." Tasch trailed off. "Lemme see... I suppose... well, it can't hurt to tell."

"oooh..." Violet began.

"My secret? Well..." She blushed a bit. "Well... I kinda only ever did it for the first time a while back. Me an' him were celebrating because I'd just got my pilot's license and all..."

There was a pause, with Violet momentarily lost for words. Finally she spoke up. "And that's incredible. I mean, I hadn't expected anything like that but yet it makes perfect sense. Maybe if I'd kept my pants on for longer I would have been a champion in my Rookie year! Thanks for that, Tasch! Its real genius and I'll have to keep it in mind for future reference and I guess that means that you're not going to go from rookie to champ in your first year either, Rose."

"Shut up, Violet." Rose muttered.

"Something you're not telling us?" Neil needled.

"Go to hell, both of you." She added.

"Well I'm about to as I've got a ticket to Hell which is a mid-sized city overlooking the Maze of Mercy where I'm going to be doing some PR stuff for the ZBC." Violet spoke up. "'cause the ZBC wants to open up more markets on the Dark Continent and they think that there's big growth potential there and I wouldn't know becuse I've never been to Nyx in my life but it sounds kinda interesting though."

"I been to Hell once." Tasch spoke up. "I got a guidebook that I could lend ya if you want. It's a few years old, but its pretty neat."

"Wow!" Violet whirled around back to her. "That'd be really, really cool of you and you'll have to tell me all about it and maybe you could give me some other travel tips for the Dark Continent because I want to know more about it like where all the best beaches are what there is to do and see and other stuff like that and I think that you should tell me all about it what with you being a native of the place and all."

Stephen, Neil and Rose watched the pair of them ramble on for a while. "Amazing." Stephen finally spoke up. "I don't know what's more insane, Tasch's piloting skills or Violet's ability to talk."

"So Rose." Neil asked. "Got any other terrifying relatives that you care to warn us about?"

"Shut up, Neil." She snapped and walked off.

"Geez..." He shrugged. "Well, what do you think? Are we doomed or what?"

"I don't know." Stephen replied. "There's something bothering me."

"Do tell."

"The PKB said it was a large cat Zoid that took out the Lord Gale. And while you said you didn't see the Zoid that whacked the Spiner and Zero X, it was a quadruped." He looked over at Violet. "An NUBG Zoid gets taken out by a large cat, and then, all of a sudden, Rose's sister turns up in a Liger Zero."

"What, you think that Violet whacked them?" He glanced at her. "I say that she's not the only nutbar around here."

"It's just a thought."

"Yeah, a nutty one." He finished. "Come on. Let's go find Rose and see if we can give Violet a new target."

**Author's Notes:**

Violet O'Bannon was inspired by a character created by Justin Norman. Wherever you are, Jus, there's some cake for ya.


	9. LiveWhinge

**Pointy Muses Fic**

Chapter Nine - Live Whinge

By Rick R.

oOoOo

As he strode into the ZBC office, Miles Slate couldn't help but have a certain spring in his step. While his little plan to beat out the Broken Chairs in the last round had failed, he knew that what was about to come would be infinitely better. His whole day, probably the rest of this week and, for that matter, possibly the entire season had been given a huge boost by the message he'd received from the ZBC earlier that morning.

They'd asked him and his entire team to come down to the ZBC headquarters. The reason was that they wouldn't be fighting a regular battle this round. No, instead they would be facing off against another team in a special new battle, an exhibition match to test out some new arena or rule that the ZBC was unveiling. The information had said that they'd still get the regular competition points for the battle, but the money would be a lot more then they'd get for a regular win. And, furthermore, it would be beneficial to their fame to appear in such a battle.

But he didn't want to just appear in it. No, he wanted to win it.

"So boys." He began as the team marched in. "You know how I'm feeling?"

"Horny?" Crystal replied as she put her arm around his.

"Always, babe." He smirked. "But besides that, do you know how I am feeling?"

"Um, you're feeling good, right?" Eliot began.

"Damn right I am." He confidently stated. "I am feeling incredibly good. And do you know why I am feeling incredibly good?"

"Because this battle, whatever it is, will provide a unique challenge to our team's skills and abilities." Drake finished.

Miles snorted to himself. While he knew that it was true, and he knew that it was what Drake was certainly thinking of, he also knew that it wasn't the reason he was thinking of. "Of course it is, Drake." He replied. "You've hit the nail right on the head." Miles was really in it for the money, and he suspected that Drake knew that. But it sounded better.

The four of them approached the main reception desk. Miles lent on the desk, leering at the receptionist sitting behind it. "Miles Slate and the Firestorm Team." He began. "We were invited here for a meeting about a special match."

"Let me see." She began as she checked over her records

"Miles," Crystal hissed. "Stop leering at her."

"I'm not, babe." He replied, putting his arm around her. "I'm not checking her out."

"You totally are." She needled.

"Ah yes." The receptionist spoke up. "You're on the fortieth floor. Take these and go into the lifts behind me." She handed Miles a quartet of cards. "Those visitor's cards will get you up to the floor where someone will meet you."

"Thanks for that." Miles replied. He handed the cards to his four team members, then proceeded to the lifts. After a brief wait, a lift arrived, the four of them steeping in. Miles swiped his card through the reader, then selected the appropriate floor. The lift started up, three of its four sides illuminated by a holographic display of the city around the building, mimicking windows.

"So what do you think that this is about?" Eliot asked. "This match, I mean."

"The story goes that they've been constructing some sort of big arena outside the city." Drake replied. "One that's far bigger then any of the other ones in the city itself. I suspect that, if it is true, this special event has something to do with that."

"A special arena, huh?" Miles asked. "Now that sounds realy interesting." he rubbed his chin, stroking his beard as he thought over it. "Very interesting indeed."

The lift stopped, the doors sliding open. The four pilots stepped out into a large room. Half of it was open glass, with a sloped roof. The place was sparsely furnished with several large couches and plants, while a hall lead off to several offices on one side. As they stepped into the room, a woman with reddish-brown hair, dressed in a rather sharp suit approached them. "The Firestorm team, correct?" She began. "I'm Elisa Claybourne, head of ZBC special projects."

"Miles Slate, leader of the Firestorm team." He replied as he quickly sized her up. She was in her early thirties, and of above average height. He'd heard the name before and was trying to place it. "Pleased to meet you. These are my team, Crystal Lake, Drake Stone and Eliot Morgan."

"Pleased to meet you all." She nodded.

"I must say that it is an honour to meet you, Ms Clayborne." Drake spoke up. "I've studied your career with some interest. You had one of the best championship runs ever."

_Crap, that's who she is! _He thought, feeling suddenly caught out. Elisa had been champion six years ago, but had retired undefeated. He'd heard that she had some ZBC official job, but didn't realise what. He quickly recovered. "Likewise." He hastily added.

"We're still waiting on the other team I've invited to this meeting." She continued. "If you'd like to take a seat, I'm sure that they shouldn't be-"

"Look, for the last time, the answer is no!" A voice shouted, cutting Elisa off.

"But why not?" Another voice replied. "You're an official. Surely you can look after this! It's not like it's a difficult request."

A sharp-faced man in his mid thirties with short black hair and dressed in a suit walked into the room. He was arguing with another man who Miles instantly recongised; Karl "Slash" Schnautzer, one of the more infamous pilots in the ZBC. His infamy derived from his constant temper tantrums whenever he lost, and the lengths he had been known to go to in order to get even for some perceived wrong against him. This looked like one of those moments. There was a second man behind Slash that he didn't initially recongise; a rather plain looking guy with short hair.

"All I am saying is that this project is out of my hands, Karl." The official looking man continued. "This has come under special projects, which is outside-" He looked over at the others here. "Look, that's the woman you should be seeing about this, not me."

Slash took one look at Elisa, then marched straight towards her. To his surprise, Slash then walked straight past her and straight over to him. "You." He began. "I demand that you withdraw your team from this battle and let mine take its place."

"Say... what?" Miles asked, moderately surprised by this.

"Didn't you hear me?" Slash continued. "I want to fight in the next battle in place of your team."

"I heard ya, mate." He slurred back. "But the question is, why the hell do I want to do that?"

"Because I have a need for revenge." He sneered. "And my needs transcend your petty concerns for wealth or competition points. I need to prove myself against the opponents that you will be facing. Thus I should be in this battle rather then you."

"Look, mate." Miles replied. "I was invited to this battle, not you. I'm going to be participating in it, not you. So if you don't like it, you can just rack off and stop acting like such an arse."

Slash snarled at him. "I want to be civil about this. Surely you can see why my need to be in this battle far outstrips yours."

"While I can understand your needs," Drake interjected. "At the same time, the choice was up to the Battle Commission. Surely you understand that they would have had good reasons for making this match."

"That's what I was trying to tell him." The ZBC official interjected.

Slash turned to Drake. "Whatever the ZBC's choices were, they didn't think them through enough." He continued. "I've got more right to be in this battle then you do."

"I can only assume that their choice of our team was based on our overall performance in the season so far." Drake offered. "No offence, but your team is lower ranked then ours. That's the most likely reason why we were chosen over you."

Miles used this as an opportunity to quietly slip away from this conversation and have a look around, He wanted to see if there was anything here that would clue him into what the ZBC were planning. Instead, the first thing that caught his eye was Crystal. She was talking to the other member of Slash's team present, the boring looking man. Wondering what was going on, he sidled on over to her. "Hey, babe. What's up?"

"I was just catching up with an old friend of mine." Crystal offered. "Miles, this is Bill Peterson. We were both on the Blue Dragons last season."

"Oh really." Miles began. He put an arm around her waist, while offering the other one to Bill. "Nice to met ya, Bill. Any friend of Crystal's is a friend of mine." _Especially if they're hot._

"Nice to meet you." Bill replied. "I was just catching up with Crystal, talking about old times."

Mines nodded. "Got a lot to go over?"

"You could say that." Crystal added. "Bill's my ex-boyfriend. We were together while we were on the team."

"Well there ya go. Small world, isn't it?" Miles grinned. He slipped his arm lower, wrapping one hand around Crystal's firm rear end, and giving it a gentle squeeze. As he hoped, she gave a brief 'oh' and grinned like an idiot. "Crys and me have been together for a while now."

"That's... nice." Bill replied, suddenly looking a little off-put.

"Yeah. We hit it off not too long after Crys joined the team." Miles continued.

"I'll say." Crystal added. "And me and him, well, I think we're pretty hot together, if you catch my drift."

"Oh, I see."

"And boy does she really, do it for me." Miles continued. "I can tell that you and her must have had a pretty wild old time yourselves, if you know what I mean."

"Well... yeah." He glanced over at where his team leader was arguing with Drake, Elisa and the other official. "Excuse me." Bill walked over to Slash and tapped him on the shoulder.

"That was pretty mean of you." Crystal commented.

"Ah, come on, babe." He replied. "You said it yourself that he was an arrogant dick and crap in bed."

"Well... yeah."

"And it looks like there's one benefit. Maybe we can get things going." He pointed over to Bill, who was walking towards the lift, Slash following after him and the official following the pair of them. "Maybe now we can get somewhere."

"I'm so sorry about that." Elisa began. "I don't know how they found out or got in here. Hopefully, the real opponent team will be here soon and we can get started."

"Who are they anyway?" Eliot spoke up. "Because I know it's obviously not the Black Hands."

Elisa was about to reply when the sound of a lift arriving and opening cut her off. "Hey!" A female voice called out from behind. "It's them Cheese-Lovin' Surrender Monkeys."

"Don't tell me that they're our opponents for this match." Another woman added.

Miles spun around to look at the lift. The four members of the Broken Chairs were stepping out of the lift, passing by Slash and Bill. He instantly clenched his fist as he saw them step into the room, the Hands departing. Of all the other teams in the ZBC, the last that he wanted to see here and now was that one. He quietly hoped that it was some sort of mistake, or that they were here for something else.

"Good to see you." Elisa began. "I'm Elisa Claybourne, head of ZBC special projects. Now that we're al here, we can get started."

_Damn it, _he thought. All of a sudden, his good week wasn't looking so good.

oOoOo

Elisa lead the two teams into a large meeting room off one side of the main room. The windows left them with a spectacular view of the surrounding city, the office far above the crowded streets below. The room itself was dominated by a single massive table with a row of chairs on either side and a screen at the far end of the room.

Stephen sat down at the far end of one of the rows of chairs, the other members of the team sitting on the same side as him. Miles sat at the end of the other row, sitting opposite him. Drake, he noticed, was sitting opposite Rose. He'd noticed the two of them talking to each other at the ZBC party a few weeks back, and began to wonder if there was something going on between the pair of them.

_As long as she's got no qualms with shooting at him, I don't mind, _he thought to himself as he looked over the two teams and turned to Elisa.

"Thank you for coming here today." She began as she stood at the end of the table. "Your two teams have been selected from all these currently in the competition for a special demonstration battle. Your teams were chosen not only for your current performance in the competition, but for the degree of skill and versatility that the pilots from both teams have shown. Each one of you has shown a remarkable degree of ability, especially the pilots of the Broken Chairs who are all still amateurs. At the same time, you have also all shown a considerable degree of versatility, often adapting to difficult or unusual circumstances."

"The match we have selected you for is one that we feel will test both of these attributes to their limits. We felt that your teams were the best suited for this because you would adapt well to the conditions you faced, and be able to demonstrate the best of what the ZBC's warriors can do."

She pressed several buttons on a console at the far end of the table. Curtains slid shut across the windows, blacking out the room. At the same time, a projector on the table switched on, creating an image floating in the air just above it and slowly rotating.

The eight of them peered at the picture. It looked like an arena, but not like any they knew. The arena was hexagonal in shape, but very different in structure. Rather then an open arena, it had a maze of buildings formed into a simulation of a city; a very tightly-packed, dense one. There was no clear line of sight form one side to another; just a labyrinth of twisting streets. A pair of Whale Kings parked at either end of the arena gave some impression of scale; the place was massive, far bigger then a regular arena.

"Wow." Neil spoke up. "It's our own private inner-city hellhole."

"So we're fighting in that?" Miles added, peering down at the maze.

"Fascinating." Drake spoke up. "An artificial urban battlefield. Your plan is to simulate city combat here, correct?"

"That it is." Elisa explained. "What we aim to do is to create a representation of urban warfare to add an element of challenge to the battlefield. The battle is effectively a 'blind' one. Unlike in the arenas, the two sides have no idea of where each other is located within the battlefield. Furthermore, the city's layout is structured so that the two teams must hunt each other; you cannot just charge across it to the other team's deployment area."

"So it becomes a game of cat and mouse." Miles continued. "I like it."

"Yeah..." Tasch added. "Except that instead of claws you've got guns and such, and instead of cats and mice, you got Zoids. And there's no real case of one chasing the other. So it ain't too much like that." Miles glared at her, but she continued regardless. "Well, I mean, if it was like that, then only one side would be fightin' and the other side would be runnin' from them."

"Well, I've got the cat." Rose added, a smirk on her face. "In case you wanted more metaphorical support."

"Yeah, but none of them have mouse-type Zoids." Tasch replied.

"So this is what you chose us for, then." Stephen glanced at Elisa. "It's impressive, and certainly will provide a challenge to us."

"That's right." Elisa explained. "We want your two teams to fight a rematch this round in this arena. We think that your pilots, with their range of abilities, would bring out the best of what this arena has to offer."

"Challenging doesn't begin to say it." Neil added. "This is going to be a tough battle."

"Isn't it a bit unfair that they have a flying Zoid?" Eliot pointed out. "I mean, it can just fly over the battlefield."

"Under the standard rules for the battle, flying Zoids are limited to traveling no higher then the top of the arena wall. Any higher and they're disqualified." Elisa explained. "We'll give you a full run-down of the rules and stipulations before the battle, if you agree to it. We do not wish to force you into this. If you decide not to accept it, you will be reshuffled into the regular competition for the round."

"Not accept it?" Miles stood. "Hell, the Firestorm team would be proud to take part in this battle. Not only does it show how good we are, but it also shows what the ZBC can accomplish." He smirked and glanced at Stephen.

_You tool, _he thought. _You didn't even ask the rest of your team what they wanted._

"It'd take a very, very brave team to try this place out, Ms Claybourne." He continued, turning to face her. "I think that my team is up to that challenge. Certainly, I'm not afraid of this battle."

_So you don't give us any choice. We have to accept it or look bad. _He didn't want to go ahead and make a decision without the team, however. "So, what do you guys think?"

"Well, I don't know." Neil spoke up. "It sounds like a difficult battlefield to say the least. And any extra prize money we get would probably all go on repairs and ammo afterwards, regardless of who won."

"I can't decide either, really." Rose added. "Like Neil said, it's a difficult battle. But at the same time, it'd be a great opportunity for us. We're already on the up and up, and this would be a real boost for us and a great way to get noticed. And even if we loose, it's a great help for our reputation."

"Great. We can get noticed as we get blown up." Neil commented. "You ever think that life is not just about looking good, Rose?"

"I dunno." Tasch interjected. "Y'see, I think that it could be… what's the world I'm lookin' for…" She thought about it. "Yeah, that's the one. It's kinda, well, kinda unique. It's kinda different. It's not what we expect to be doin'. And I kinda like that." She glanced over the other members of the team. "An' that's why I'm a Zoid pilot, y'see. I like the challenge. An' I like to do things that are different and unusual in a battle. An' that's why I pilot a Zoid, an' why I wanna be in this battle."

From across the table, Drake nodded at her. Miles, however, turned to Elisa. "If either team backed out, would you get a replacement?"

"We would, yes." Elisa replied. 'Of course, we'd need to know as soon as possible."

"I see." Miles turned back to Stephen, grinning.

Stephen looked over his team, trying hard not to scowl. "So?" He asked.

"I'm for it." Rose began. "Like I said, I like the sounds of it."

"An' I like the challenge, so that's me too." Tasch added.

"I guess I'm in." Neil admitted, shrugging. "I see no sense in letting the rest of you get exploded."

"Then we're decided." Stephen turned to Elisa. "Count is in."

oOoOo

The Chairs had spent the next day going over their plans for the battle, then going over their Zoids again to make sure that everything was in working order. And then they'd gone over it all again. In truth, they weren't exactly prepared for this battle. Nobody in the team had any experience with urban combat, and nobody knew exactly what to expect.

In the end, they'd just decided on a simple approach. They had a plan for the battle and knew that they could follow that. And that was all they were going to do. The rest of the week was set aside for rest and relaxation and, above all else, not stressing about the battle. They'd get nowhere by worrying about it, so they simply decided to take it easy.

"Hey Tasch." Rose began as she strode into their living room. "Mind if I borrow your computer for a second?"

"Sure." Tasch looked up from her seat across the room where she was writing. "I ain't usin' it." Nobody else was either. They were in a quiet moment right now.

"Thanks for that." She replied as she sat down at the bench where the computer was usually kept. "We really, really should get another one in here."

"Oh sure." Neil quipped from his seat. "As soon as we can afford one, its the first thing we'll do."

Rose poked her tongue out at him before turning back to the computer. "I'm just saying that it'd be nice. I mean, we end up spending all our time on Tasch's computer; it'd be nice if we each had one so nobody ends up hogging it." She shrugged. "And besides, we could use them for the odd networked game or other stuff like that."

"Great." Neil commented. "More ways for you guys to beat me."

"Not up for another game of Corona then?" Stephen jokingly asked.

"No fear. I'll let you guys take on more dangerous opponents, like small children and grandmothers."

Rose smirked as she worked on the computer. "Come on, Neil. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" He commented.

"Yeah. You do manage a kill on one of us on occasion." She smiled and turned back to the computer.

"Nasty. I'll pay it." He finished. "So what are you up to? Online lingerie shopping"

"Very funny." Rose shot back. "Actually, I'm updating my Online Journal."

Stephen looked over at her. "I didn't know you had one of those things." He commented. "You didn't strike me as the type."

"Come on." Rose quipped. "Just because I'm good looking doesn't mean I can't write or try expressing myself. You'd be surprised."

"Well, you just don't fit the image that one associates with an OJ user." Stephen explained.

"...which is?" Her blue eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

"What I think Stephen means is that you're not like what people expect from an OJ user." Neil offered. "Fourty percent of OJ users are lefty whiners who cry because the majority of voters don't agree with their pigeonhole views. Fifty percent of OJ users are angsty would be goth poets who cry because their shop ran out of their favorite black lipgloss. The final ten percent are fic bitches who cry because the majority of 'net fiction is written by marginally literate fourteen year olds or, for that matter, the other two groups."

"I think that's a little unfair." Rose commented.

"Certainly that's all I got when I had one." Neil shrugged. "My 'friends' list degenerated into a mess of bunfights every time anyone posted anything. Eventually I just got sick of wading through the piles of crap in order to find anything interesting and ended up de-freinding them. Then they all started yelling at me for taking them off my list. So in the end I left it to rot. I haven't touched it in years."

"Well what about you, Stephen?" Rose asked. "Do you agree with him or what?"

"I don't like the whole OJ user mindset." He explained. "You've got a problem and what do you do? Rather then talking to friends or family or the like, you decide that the best thing to do is blurt it out in public and hope for half-baked advice from any random stranger who happens to be reading your post. It's an extension of the Talk Show logic where you don't feel comfortable talking about something unless the whole world is listening in."

"Ouch." Neil commented. "Score one to him."

"I think that's a bit rich coming from the guy who had to take anger management courses." Rose shot back.

"One all." Neil dryly added. Stephen muttered something then stood up and walked off.

"So what do you think, Tasch?" Rose asked. "You seem to be the creative type. I see you as the sort to write down all your thoughts and stuff like that."

"That's right." Tasch replied. "An' I do that."

"And you traveled with a laptop, right?" Rose continued.

"Yep. That's why I write it all down in this." She held up the small notebook she was writing in.

"...you don't keep an online journal?" Rose asked.

"Naw, that'd be silly." Tasch offered. "I mean, I can't access it everywhere I go, like if I'm halfway up a moutain or rock climbin' or something like that. An' besides which, they're my inner thoughts and stuff. I got no reason to go around shoutin' them at everyone, especially people who don't wanna hear 'em."

Rose looked at Tasch for a moment. "So... when there's something bothering you, or something up, who do you talk to?"

"My parents." She offered. "Or my friends. Or my sister, 'cept she's very hard to track down. She travels even more then me an' almost never writes."

"Well done, Tasch." Neil offered. "You've just shot down the whole OJ culture in..." He checked his watch. "Seconds."

"Do you mind?" Rose asked.

"Uh..." Neil glanced around. "Tell you what, I'll just go... place. Yes." He quietly shuffled out, avoiding eye contact.

Rose shook her head. _They just don't get it, do they? _In fact, she very much doubted that either Neil or Stephen kept a journal of any sort, and was amazed that Neil had used to have one. Sighing quietly to herself, she turned around to the computer, logging into her journal.

She'd put in a big post about the team being selected for the Special battle this round, and how she felt about it. She didn't want to sound like she was bragging, but it was a very big and very important thing for her. A rookie team being chosen for a battle like this was quite unusual, to say the least. The fact that there was a certain pilot in amongst the opponent ream was, well...

How she felt about Drake was one of the few things she _hadn't _mentioned in her Journal. She didn't want to complicate things, especially in the unbelievable off-chance that he actually was reading it. So instead she'd kept it entirely to herself. That being said, Rose had to admit that the other members of the team would have noticed something. She'd kept tight-lipped about matters, but knew that it wouldn't be hard to figure it out.

_Even for them, _she added as a silly afterthought. Okay, so that was a bit unfair. They were pretty decent people after all. It's just that, well, some days they could be a little difficult. Stephen being moody, Neil being snarky and Tasch being, well, Tasch, made things awkward some times.

She went through her friends list, which was mainly composed of people she knew from high school and a few others. There was not much to report there; people bitching about their jobs, two of them fighting with each other by journal and someone going on about some indy film that Rose absolutely had to see because it would change her life in some unfathomable way. After only a cursory glance, she went to her own journal.

Her post had garnered some degree of attention. A number of her friends were commenting on how cool or how exciting it was for her. It was what she had expected, with nothing too interesting or exciting there. But, more interestingly, there was a rather long, anonymous post. This caught her attention, Rose immediately wondering who it was. She scrolled down it, reading over it to try to figure who it was.

_A special battle. Oh, how exciting._

_Look everyone. The ZBC is trying another twist on its usual diet of bland pulp for the brainless masses. They say that they're doing something 'different' or 'innovative' that will be 'all different' and 'exciting.' But we all know that we've seen it all before, that it will be no different from every other ZBC battle out there._

_You must be so proud of yourself. Every week you parade around, swanning about and prostituting yourself to the lowest common denominator in the name of mindless bland entertainment. You go out and fight your unbelievably clean, TV-friendly, kiddie-safe battles for a few minutes then retire for canapés and product endorsements. It must be a truly rewarding experience, managing to be so vapid and so bland. Every week, day in and day out the same, like some dead-end office job._

_Of course, its not just an office job, is it? Because office workers aren't driven by the mindless desire for some fame, no matter how fleeting it may be. Its that singular desire to be remembered but without having to work for it that drives you on, your urge to have your name up in lights and splashed all over the covers of the glossy pulps without having to do any hard work to achieve it. Just like some vapid movie star that churns out the same repetitive formula blockbuster for each season, you aim to do it without any thought, any effort or even the vaguest hint of originality._

_I'd be sickened by the spectacle of it all, but that would require a degree of effort that I can't be bothered wasting on you. In fact, I suspect that you haven't even gotten this far, your tiny little brain being overloaded by all the big words I've used above. In fact, you've almost certainly deleted this by now. Or, instead, you're probably having a little cry, demanding to know who this person is who has intruded into your happy little fantasy world and kicked over your sandcastle. I'm not going to give you that satisfaction._

_I hope your battle is as "special" as you hope it will be. Who knows? Maybe the ZBC might just have had an original thought. But even then, I doubt that any will have gone through your head._

"Whatever." Rose muttered. She contemplated deleting it for a moment, but then decided to leave it. She didn't want the poster, whoever it was, to think that they'd gotten her angry or the like. In fact, she just didn't care.

oOoOo

"Damn them!" Karl shouted as he stormed back into the team's main living room, a phone in his hand. "Damn it, can't they understand the seriousness of this situation?"

"What's up, Slash?" Kuro Onishi asked, looking up from the couch were he was sitting. He'd been rather worried about Slash for the last few days; he'd been very angry, spending hours on the phone and shouting a lot. Kuro had no idea what was going on, however. All he knew was that it had something to do with the ZBC.

"It's those morons at the ZBC, that's what it is." Slash snarled angrily. "They don't understand my needs at all. I make a simple request of them and they snub me."

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because the ZBC is run by a bunch of mindless pencil pushers and bureaucrats who fail to understand what piloting a Zoid is all about." Slash angrily began. "They live up in their lofty ivory tower offices and make arbitrary decisions that affect our lives and our careers, but they don't even think about what its like to be the men inside the machines. They make their money off out efforts, but fail to understand what it is we do for them."

"I heard that the head of the ZBC is a former Zoids battle champion." Kuro replied. "And that several of their other big officials are former Zoid warriors as well."

"Well..." Slash started, then paused. "That may be the case, but they have lost tough with their roots. They've become soft and weak by living off the labours of us Zoid warriors, to the point where they don't even understand what its like to pilot a Zoid. I bet I could easily beat any of them in a real Zoid battle."

"So what's the problem then?"

"The problem is that those ignoramuses don't appreciate our skills." Bill added as he walked in from their Zoid hanger. "They passed us over for a special promotional battle in favour of some other teams."

"Well..." Kuro glanced at the pair of them. "I'm sure that thy had some good reason for it."

"Their only reason is that they don't understand our needs." Slash continued. "There is a team that I need to battle, and they are denying me that opportunity."

"Exactly." Bill replied. "I feel the same way."

"So then." Slash looked at him. "We're agreed then. We must do everything in our power to beat the Broken Chairs and bring them down."

"The Broken Chairs?" Bill asked. "I was talking about the Firestorm team."

"Why them?" Slash glared at him. "What have they done to you? It was the Chairs that have twice beaten us."

"In case you didn't notice, it was the leader of the Firestorm team who took my girl." He snapped back. "I have my own needs here. I need to win her back from them."

"Well your needs are superseded by the needs of the team." Slash continued. "We all want revenge against the Broken Chairs, Bill. You can't just run off on your own doing whatever you damn well like. We need to be focused, to be driven towards our goals."

"Actually, I don't." Kuro spoke up.

"What?"

"I just want to be a good Zoid warrior, that's all." He continued.

Slash glared at him, then turned back to Bill. "But you see what I mean. We must remain focused and driven towards our goals."

"Yeah, and it just happens that we have different ones." Bill replied. "But the thought occurs to me that we're going about this the wrong way."

"It does?" Slash asked. "Then what would you do about it?"

"Well, the thought occurs to me that we have two teams that we both dislike in the one battle." He began, slowly walking away from where Kuro was sitting. "The thought occurs to me that there has to be some way to take them both out... like if we attacked them while they were in the middle of their battle or something like that. That way we could show them all."

"Say what?" Slash looked at him. "Take them out both at once?"

"Of course, we couldn't actually do that." Bill continued. "I mean, the arena will be locked down and there's no way we'll be able to get access to it."

"Hmmm." Slash considered matters. "Give me a moment. I think I may have an idea..."

He walked off, phone in hand. In the last few days, he'd been trying any number of people he knew who had a connection to the ZBC to try to get into the battle. None of them had succeeded, not even Ron who was usually good for anything. However, there were still people that he knew outside of the ZBC who wielded some degree of influence. This time, he was going to the top, to the one person who he knew would be able to solve his problem.

He walked into his own private room, securing the door behind him. Pausing for a moment to calm himself, he waited then dialed the number. After a few rings, the other end picked up.

"Karl? Is that you?" The woman on the other end began.

"Yes, Mother." He replied, a touch sheepishly.

"I see." She replied. "So, what is it that you need from your mother today, Karl?"

"Well..." He began. "There's this battle, you see. And I need to get my team into it, even though, well, uh, we're not invited to it."

"Well..." There was a pause. "Karl, I can't arrange for you to get into a ZBC battle. My influence doesn't stretch that far. However, I know someone who can."

"Oh?"

"Here are the details..."

oOoOo

The Broken Chairs' two rented Gustavs crawled through the desert, heading out form the city towards the arena. The ZBC had released the details of its location to them only late yesterday. It still gave them enough time to secure the two Gustavs, but it also gave them some measure of the degree of security that was involved in this event.

Stephen glanced down at the navigational display in his Gustav. "Well, according to the map, we should be there pretty soon. In fact, we probably should be able to see it about... oh wow." Ahead, on the horizon was a large blob, jutting out of the desert. At first, it didn't seem like anything, but, as they approached, they began to make out details. The blob part of it was, in fact, the massive walls of the arena which completely enclosed the city within. Only a single central spire jutted out of it, the only sign of what lay within.

The massive complex loomed out of the desert, dominating the landscape around it. It was the only thing visible for miles around, a solitary sign of human civilization in the middle of the otherwise empty expanse. As they approached, the arena loomed up over them, towering above their transports.

"Wow." Neil spoke up. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah, it's pretty big." Tasch commented. "Its the biggest arena I've ever seen... but then, I haven't seen too many of 'em, so I don't know if that's fair or not."

"Next thing you'll say it remind you of home." Neil added.

"Naw, it ain't like home at all." Tasch replied. "I mean, I come form a small town."

"Silly me."

"But when we get inside, then I'll take a look at the place." She finished.

"Well there's a nicely foreboding sight." Rose spoke up.

"Don't forget, you wanted to come here." Neil quipped. "So don't get all wobbly on us."

"Okay, guys." Stephen butted in. "That's enough. Let's just keep focused on what's coming up." He knew that he'd be lying if he said he had no doubts about the battle. Their last fight with the Firestorm Team had been incredibly close, a lot more then he was comfortable with. This arena would make coordinating their actions a lot harder, which would mean a much tougher battle. And with Tasch unable to fly, then they'd be without their biggest single advantage over their opponents.

The Gustavs stopped outside a large sealed gate, a ZBC-Registered Godos standing on either side of it. The Gustav's communicator crackled to life as the two Zoids turned to face them. "This is restricted ZBC property." One of the pilots spoke up. "Identify yourselves."

"This is the Broken Chairs team." Stephen replied, watching the two Zoids. "We were invited here by Elisa Claybourne."

"Just a moment." The line went silent for a minute, then the Godos stepped back. "Proceed inside to hanger A1." The gates opened, allowing the two Gustavs to enter.

"Their security is more then I'd have expected for an arena." Neil observed. "And a bit trigger-happy."

"Its a big investment for them." Rose replied. "They probably spent millions building this place. The last thing they want is for anything to go wrong."

"It seems like a reasonable level of security to me." Tasch commented. "I don't see what the fuss is about."

"You wouldn't." Rose dryly finished as the Gustavs entered into the hanger.

The crew of technicians awaiting in the hanger had their Zoids were unloaded and prepped in relatively short order. Within minutes, the pilots were inside their machines, ready to go. The Zoids marched to a large elevator, then waited as it was slowly raised up to the surface, much like the standard Zoid lifts in the arena. The elevator stopped outside a pair of massive doors which then slid open, allowing them to step out and into the arena proper.

"Wow." Rose began as she looked around. "This place is massive."

Their four Zoids were standing on a street in the middle of a row of uniform, featureless grey and brown buildings. The street they were on abruptly ended in a junction, while others snaked off in different directions. All around them, all they could see were more of the same-looking buildings. It was like a city, stripped of all the life, reduced to a single, gloomy, almost sinister maze.

"Now this is more like home." Tasch commented. "Well, actually, it's kinda like New Valhalla. Yeah, I went there once, and it was a lot like this."

"Why am I not surprised?" Neil asked.

"Well, the Imperial palace area... that's not nearly as packed." She continued. "But this certainly reminds me of what the rest of it was like."

"Lovely." Rose smirked. "Remind me never to go there."

"Okay, guys." Stephen spoke up. "Let's keep focused and go over the plan again." He glanced over his team. "Neil, you're the scout. Use your radar to locate enemy Zoids. Don't engage unless pressed. None of them are stealthy or have optic camouflage, so they're not going to be able to completely loose us. Tasch, your job will be to explore the city, less searching for opponents and more of finding our way. Rose, you and I will try to stay close but not together. That way we can cover more ground. We can also get to each other reasonably quickly in case the other gets into trouble."

There was a chorus of affirmative replies from the other members of the team. "Good. Now all we have to do is wait."

As if on cue, the voice of a ZBC monitor drone cut into the communications channel. "The Broken Chairs versus the Firestorm Team." The electronic voice began. "Blind City Battle. Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

oOoOo

"You heard the man!" Miles called out. "Lets go!"

The four Zoids of the Firestorm team leaped away from their starting position at the opposite end of the city, turning in towards its center. Miles' plan was simple; the other members of his team would flush the Broken Chairs out from hiding, then he would move in for the kill. His Zoid was the fastest on the team, which meant that he could easily respond to any battle that started.

He knew that everyone would be watching this battle, so he wanted to look as good as possible during it. What he really wanted was not just for his team to win, however, but for him to do the best from it. The more kills he got, the better he looked to the public and the better his points stacked up. Besides, it would feel good to wipe out as many of the Chairs as he could himself.

The battlefield heavily favoured his Death Raser, which made him feel confident. His Zoid was fast and relatively agile, and designed with close combat in mind. In this battlefield, he could be on top of an enemy before they knew it, and slicing at them with the plasma blades or electron claws. Of the Broken Chairs' Zoids, only one of them possessed stronger melee weapons his Zoid did; their Iron Kong. Of course, he had is own plans for how to deal with it. And if someone caught him out in the open, well, the Death Raser's deflective armour meant it wouldn't be an issue.

"This is gonna be so good." He began, grinning to himself. "I'm holding all the cards here. There's no way you guys can beat me now." The Death Raser thundered into the city, searching for its prey.

oOoOo

The maroon Double Arms Lizard hissed as it opened fire with its back mounted cannon, the shots tearing into the damaged Brachios' flank. The Zoid bellowed as its legs collapsed out from underneath it, sending it stumbling forwards onto its side.

"The Battle is over!" The ominous electronic voice of the NUBG monitor called out. "The winners are CJ Tan and Butch Harrison!"

"Looks like two heads are indeed better then one!" An announcer called out as the DA Lizards stood over its fallen opponent. The pair of Zoids were in the center of a relatively small arena, made up of bare concrete and completely enclosed. Twisted scrap metal jutted out from the walls, forming an array of wicked spikes designed to impale any who came too close. "Our sinister Lizard has prevailed in yet another bloody struggle against its opponent."

"That match was a pile of total crap." Michael Heywood commented as he sat back in his armchair. He was in a private booth, watching the battle on a massive flat-screen monitor that took up the entire wall. His NUBG 'command' staff were with him, seated around him; Cole and Rachel on the seats next to him, while Shane and Julian were in the back row. "Stuff that one on the end of the video, Rachel. No sane person would pay to watch it as a feature event."

"Certainly." She replied as she made a note on a portable computer.

"And if Tony ever makes that 'two heads' crack again, have him fired." He added. "And, oh, I dunno, see about having someone break his arm for good measure."

"Of course." She replied as she made another note.

"Still, this next one should more then make up for it." He grinned. "We're about to make NUBG history, boys. The ZBC has got a huge event planned and we are about to crash it." He pressed several buttons on one arm of his chair. "Ken, this is Michael. Is your team ready?"

"We are." Came the voice on the other end. "They've just started the battle now. We're moving into position and will be ready to go in a minute."

"Good work there, Ken." Michael replied, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Take 'em all out. Let's make the ZBC's big night an even bigger one for the NUBG."

"Of course, boss. Marsh out."

The line hissed with static and then closed. "Ladies and gentlemen." Michael began as he stood, looking over the assembled senior members of the NUBG "Today is truly a great day for us. We've just gotten a team into the ZBC's big battle, a team that specialise in the sort of combat that the ZBC built their arena for. Our team will face not one but two ZBC teams and, using their superior skills, take them both out."

He grinned. "Can you imagine it? Our team against two others in a tense battle to the finish, the three groups stalking each other, each trying to locate and terminate the others. All this while crashing the ZBC's big event. The revenue form the betting alone will be a fortune. Then think of the subsequent sales of this match. Everybody will want to see how the NUBG took on the ZBC's best and brightest, and humiliated them."

"This should be good." Julian began. "And if one of them is the team I think it is, I can't wait to see their punk-arses getting busted." He smirked.

"Likewise." Shane added. "They deserve what's coming to them."

"They do indeed." Michael continued, grinning. "Which is why I've arranged for a little extra something to be in this battle."

"Something... else?" Rachel looked up at him. "You mean besides the Night hunters?" She glanced at Cole, who shrugged.

"Yeah." He grinned broadly. "There's an extra special treat in this for our hapless heroes. This is going to be one sweet, sweet battle. Trust me."

oOoOo

The main gates at either end of the arena weren't its only entrances. There were several more service entrances located around its rim, some of them large enough for Zoids to enter or leave. It was towards one of these that a trio of Zoids headed, having apparently run across the desert to get here.

"Here it is." Slash began from the cockpit of his Blade Liger Mirage as sit stopped in front of the gate. "Just like my contact said it would be."

Bills' Command Wolf and Kuro's Saberlion both pulled up behind the larger Zoid. "Impressive looking place." Bill began. "And you say that they're in there?"

"That's correct." Slash replied. "So we need to get in there and then get to them."

"But..." Kuro's Saberlion looked back and forth at the two Zoids. "Um, guys?" He asked, a little nervous sounding. "Um, what is it we're doing, exactly?"

"We're breaking into the arena so we can take part in the battle." Slash simply replied. "Since those fools in the ZBC chose to deny us a place in this battle, they have forced our hand. We're going to be in this, regardless of what it takes."

"But..." He paused. "But isn't that, um, illegal?" He asked. "I mean, its what the NUBG does, and they're criminals and all..."

The Blade Liger turned to face the Saberlion. "What's that?" Slash asked. "Are you afraid, Kuro?"

"Well not afraid." He explained, nervously. "But, um... I don't think we should be doing this."

"If you have a problem, then you can leave." Slash angrily stated. "But if you do, I don't want to find you back at our base when I get back. So you're either coming with us, or you can go now."

The Saberlion looked at the two larger Zoids, then abruptly turned around and ran off. The smaller Zoid sprinted off across the desert, trying to put as much distance between itself and its two teammates as possible.

"Wasn't that a bit harsh, Slash?" Bill asked.

"If he was too afraid to join us, then he had no place in our team." Slash simply stated. "Now, open the door and we'll be in. I'll send you the access code."

A few minutes later, the two Zoids found themselves inside the arena proper, standing in amongst the maze of buildings that made up its terrain. "I had no idea that they were doing something like this." Bill began. "Slash, how are we going to find them in this maze?"

"We will use our warrior's instincts." He began. "We will hunt them down ourselves, regardless of what it takes."

"Yeah, but this is a pretty big arena. How are we meant to find them in all this?"

"The two teams enter form each end." Slash observed. "Thus they are more likely to meet in the middle. So then that is where we will go."

"I guess that makes sense." Bill replied.

"Good." Slash finished as he opened up the Liger's throttle. "And if you see the Liger Zero, leave it for me!" He called out as the Zoid bounded off, hading further into the city.

"Sure... " he replied. "Hey! Wait for me!" The Command Wolf ran off after the Blade Liger, desperately trying to catch up with it.

oOoOo

The members of the Night Hunters team had actually been in the arena longer then the two teams taking part in the battle. They had been smuggled in under the guys of "equipment" and "Building supplies, and their Zoids had been dispersed into the city to pre-planned ambush points. Each of the team's members knew what they had to do, and had specific plans for the battle.

They had a number of advantages over the two ZBC teams that were taking part in the battle. They had already spent some time going over the battlefield, mapping out the city and figuring the most likely paths for the enemy teams to take. Additionally, they had far better electronic support then the two teams in the battle had access to. That would give them a better chance to spot their opponents, and allow them a far better degree of communication.

Thomas Stahl had set his Snipe Master up in a prime ambush position overlooking an intersection. He'd been patiently waiting there for hours, observing the location and preparing to take out anyone who dared enter into his line of sight. He was a professional sniper, and this was his environment. He had originally been in the military, but had been kicked out for insubordination. That had marked his record, which meant that he couldn't get a decent job, and couldn't join the ZBC.

And then the NUBG had found him. He'd immediately taken a liking to the way that they did things, and had readily joined them. But even that hadn't worked out. The way he fought, his patient sniping style didn't suit the NUBG with its violent, close-ranged, brutal and showy battles. He'd been considering other options for some time. But then they told him about this battle. And he was hooked.

As he watched the streets below, his Zoid's sensors bleeped to indicate an approaching target. Glancing around, he quickly identified his target as a cannon-armed Arosaurer. He knew that it was a part of the Firestorm team. A mid-sized Zoid, reasonably agile, decently armoured and, with the booster cannons, well armed. In an open battle, it'd be holding a lot of advantages over him.

Of course, he wasn't going to take it on in an open battle.

"Hunter three to hunter one." he radioed. "Have located the Arosaurer. We haven't taken over yet, but I can take it out right now if you want."

"Go for it, hunter three." Ken Marsh, the leader of the team replied. "Hunter two, prepare to lock out and take over."

"Affirmative." The female voice of hunter two responded.

"Everyone else be ready." Ken continued. "Engage enemy Zoids on sight."

"Yes, commander."

"Affirmative."

Thomas nodded, then lined up a shot on the Arosaurer. The enemy Zoid pilot clearly hadn't noticed him. _Too easy, _he thought as he fired. The shot struck the Arosaurer on the side of the neck, ripping through its armour. The Zoid roared, then collapsed, crashing forwards onto its belly, clearly out of action.

"Target eliminated." He reported.

oOoOo

Margo sat in the cockpit of her Dimetrodon, listening into the radio conversation between the members of her team. She'd been patiently waiting for this moment, which was her time to strike. She wasn't a fighter and she knew it. Instead, she was a thinker and a doer. Or, as she liked to call herself, an activist.

Unlike most members of NUBG who just wanted to fight their own way or do their own thing, she was in it for her own, rather different reasons. Margo hated Zoid battles, pure and simple. She found the whole idea of safe, sanitised, family-friendly violence to be, well, stupid. The fact that the masses just lapped it up only served to confirm what she'd always thought; that the average person was a mindless moron who needed to be shown the truth.

She'd started by organising protests at Zoid battle events, but found that they were usually small and, more to the point, ignored. So she instead decided to try a different approach. She'd tried using online petitions, and then when that failed, lengthy posts in her blog to attract attention.

The attention she'd attracted was not what she'd expected, however. A member of the NUBG had found her blog and, more to the point, agreed with what she had to say. They'd explained their position as being the 'alternative' to the ZBC. She began to like what they saw and realised that it was her duty to support them. So she'd turned her online activities to supporting the NUBG. Not only did she help to promote them, but she served as a venue for distributing videos of their battles.

At the same time, she'd also learned to use a Zoid. While she wasn't expected to take part in battles, she had instead trained as an electronics specialist. Her role had been to help the NUBG in taking over battles by jamming ZBC communications and sensory systems. And now she was taking an active part in a battle; Her task was both to shut out the enemy Zoids communications, while at the same time providing both sensory and communications support for her team.

"Oookay then." She began as she pressed several buttons on her control panel. Her Dimetrodon's fin began to wave back and forth as it began broadcasting its jamming signals across the arena. "Enemy signals are down. And we are live and on the air." She smiled to herself as she sat back in her cockpit. "The NUBG is now in charge of this little battle. Let's show those mindless morons what we can really do."

Margo would have been the first to admit that she didn't fit the image of the stereotypical Zoid pilot. She was short, with limp black hair and dull grey eyes. She had both her ears, her right eyebrow and her tongue pieced and, rather then dressing in a supposedly fashionable pilots suit, she instead preferred to wear a baggy black and purple shirt and matching torn pants. It was a statement, a rejection of the image that the ZBC peddled.

She just wanted to see the face of that Liger pilot whose journal she'd spammed when they found out what was happening. It would be priceless.

oOoOo

Located deep in the heart of the arena, the control center was the heart of the ZBC's operations there. From here, every single camera across the city, both the fixed ones and the remote drones could be monitored and observed. Through them, the battle would be recorded and eventually broadcast; today's battle was not going out live, due to the complexity of the event and its nature as a trial. None the less, it was important to observe what was happening.

Elisa stood amongst the row of monitors, observing the battlefield as the two teams stalked each other. So far, everything was looking good. The teams were responding just as she expected them to, each cautiously moving into the city and watching out for their opponents. While the battle was initially slow, she figured that it would speed up dramatically and soon.

Then something strange happened. The Arosaurer suddenly collapsed, as if it had been shot. "Zoom in" She began as she looked over a tech's shoulder. "I want to see what happened there." The camera focused on the Zoid's neck. Sure enough, there was a gaping hole, indicative of a projectile round, most likely a sniper. "That's not right. They couldn't have started shooting already."

She glanced across the row of monitors. "Where's the Gunsniper?" She asked.

"West 32nd street." A tech called out. "On the move."

"Odd." She looked over a display of the map. There was no way the Gunsniper could have taken the Arosaurer out. And the only other Zoid in the battle with a projectile weapon was the Koenig Wolf, whish she knew wasn't the attacker. "We have an intruder." She suddenly began.

"Ms Claybourne?" A tech asked. "I'm loosing my signal."

She glanced over to his monitor, finding that it was dissolving into static. Then the one next to it went off, and another one. Watching the whole room, she could see screen after screen going off. "What the hell?" She began as she looked over them. "What is going on here?"

"The signals are being cut off," a tech called out. "It looks like somebody's jamming them."

"Jamming them?" She asked. "But who..." She narrowed her eyes as she quickly figured it out; a first one of the Zoids was taken out by a mystery attacker, then they lost the signal. "It must be NUBG."

"So what do we do?"

"Try to get the signal back." She replied. "Then call for help. Those pilots are out there and, from the looks of things, completely unaware of what is about to happen."

oOoOo

The Broken Chairs were taking a cautious approach to their movement through the city, remaining as a relatively solid unit rather then splitting up too much. They followed Stephen's initial plan; Tasch flew ahead of the unit, remaining at or below the height of the arena rim and keeping her eyes open for the enemy. Neil followed her up, watching things as they occurred from the ground. Rose and Stephen followed behind them, relying on the other members of their team to make sure nobody got behind them.

So far things had been quiet. They hadn't seen any signs of the Firestorm Team as yet, instead the city was eerily quiet. Their Zoids advanced slowly and cautiously, their pilots constantly watching their surroundings for any sign of enemy activity. While they had the advantage form Tasch's airborne support, the Firestorm Team had smaller, more elusive Zoids.

"Hey guys." Tasch began over the communicator. "The area ahead of us looks pretty clear; I ain't seen no signs of any activity so far. I'm gonna head over to the center of the town to get a better look at what's goin' on over there."

"Sure thing, Tasch." Stephen replied. "Just keep your eyes open."

"Ah will." She finished.

"Neil, how's it looking where you are?"

"Wonderful." Neil commented. "If this was a slasher film, I would be so dead by now. I'm alone, its dark, its quiet and there's no sign of any life. I'm chainsaw murderer food all right."

"Just answer the question." he sighed

"Then it's a big clean no." He finished. "Either the Firestormers are being just as cautious as we are, or they just got lost on the way over here."

"Right." He didn't like it when it was quiet. Too much silence got on his nerves; it mad him very tense. In a way, he almost preferred to be in the midst of a raging battle. At least then he knew where his opponents were. But in this urban battlefield, they could be literally anywhere. "Just everyone keep your eyes open and let me know when anything, and I mean anything happens."

"Yeah, yeah." Neil replied. "Just as long as they don't - " He trailed off into static.

A loud explosion cut off any reply Stephen could have made to his comment as a building right next to his Zoid was struck by a round and exploded. "The hell?" He shouted out. "I'm under attack!"

Instead of a reply from any of his team, all he got was static. Looking around, he couldn't see any signs of the attacker, nor could the Iron Kong's composite sensor locate anything. _So who attacked me? _He asked himself. _It has to be the Koenig Wolf; none of the others have any explosive weapons. _Looking around, the Iron Kong searched around for any signs of its attacker. _But where is it?_

A lout whistling sound from the sky caught his attention. He opened up the Zoid's throttle, the massive Iron Kong breaking into a run. The shot hit the Iron Kong in its left shoulder, shaking the massive Zoid. Checking his board, he could see that the shot had damaged the armour, but not penetrated it.

"That was no missile." He muttered. "Then who..."

The Kong was rocked again as a pair of shots struck it in the back, sending it staggering forwards. Reacting to the attack, Stephen twisted the foot pedals, the Iron Kong spinning around with surprising speed for its size. As he turned, he bought up the wrist guns ready to fire - but there was no sign of his opponent on either sensors or visuals.

A pair of electric blue blasts ripped out from just over a low building, again slamming into the Iron Kong's chest. The Zoid staggered back, but managed to remain upright despite the force of the blow. Stephen opened fire with the wrist cannon, spraying shots in the general direction of his attacker. They were largely concealed, with only their top cannons showing, making them difficult to hit. However, whatever it was, it wasn't showing on his sensors.

The shots tore into the side and top of the building, peppering it with fire. He squeezed the trigger again, one of the rocket-propelled grenades mounted on top of the cannon launching and sailing over the roof, slamming into something on the other side with a loud explosion. The twin cannons ducked down under the building, vanishing from sight.

"You're not getting away that easily!" He called out as he opened up the throttle. The Iron Kong stomped forwards, then leaped into the air, slamming down on the roof of the building. However, there was no sing of his attacker. Glancing around, Stephen saw something out of the corner of his eye; a bit of green armour disappearing around a corner.

"Green? The hell?" He knew that it certainly wasn't one of the Firestorm team's Zoids. Which made him wonder...

A loud whistling noise cut off his train of thought. He fired the jets, the Iron Kong leaping into the air and twisting out of the way of the shot. The round sailed straight past him, instead slamming into a nearby building near its base. The Kong landed nearby, its pilot again searching for any sign of his attackers. _There's a Zoid with an artillery piece and a stealthy Zoid at least. _He figured. _So that's at least two. I'd guess more._

"I don't know if any of you can hear this." He began, over the communicator. "But I think we have a problem."

oOoOo

Eliot's Parablade cautiously advanced through the city streets, its pilot keeping an eye open for any sign of enemy activity. He'd been sent ahead of the rest of the team to act as a scout; since his Zoid was the smallest of the team's machines, it made sense. He had the best chance to avoid detection and, if discovered, escape from the enemy. Besides, his Parablade was rather well armed for its size, and could put up a fair fight against most of the other team's Zoids.

Miles had given him his task because he knew that he could rely on Eliot to get it done. He and Miles had been friends since back in high school and knew each other pretty well. They'd always been there for each other since then; when they both got into Zoid battles it made sense for them to form a team. The pair of them worked well together, with him always there to support and back up Miles.

Now that they were in one of the biggest battles of the year, heck, of their career, he knew that Miles and the rest of the team, would be relying on him more then ever. He had to remain alert and stay on the lookout for the other team.

"Miles!" Crystal called out over the team's communications net. "I've been knocked out!"

"What happened?" Miles called back. "What's your situation?"

"I don't know!" She all but whined. "I think it was a sniper or something. I just... he took me out in one hit and I didn't see him until it was too late."

"It has to be the Gunsniper." Miles snarled.

"How did it get here so fast?" Drake asked. "Unless they somehow know this battlefield better then we do."

"Okay, everyone, just stay calm and keep alert. And keep your eyes open!"

"Yes, boss." Eliot managed to get out. "I can't see any signs of the enemy yet but... they could be anywhere in this place." He nervously looked around the maze of buildings. He couldn't see any sign of the enemy Gunsniper, but then that was to be expected. The enemy Zoid could use the higher ground to get to an advantageous position and then take him out. He had to stay focused and alert.

"I can't see any signs of him yet." Eliot continued. "It looks to be all clear."

"Just keep your eyes open." Miles snapped back. "I don't want us all taken out by one lucky clown."

"I can't see anything here either." Drake added. "Its unusual... the enemy Gunsniper pilot didn't strike me as the type for this sort of attack. What I've seen of him so far didn't speak much for his gunnery skills."

"Well maybe he's a better shot then he looks." Miles snapped. "Just keep your eyes open and stop messing abou..." The end of the message trialed off into a crackle, then static.

"Miles?" Eliot asked. "Are you there?" There was no reply. "Come on, Miles." He checked his communicator again; there was nothing but static. "Drake? Crystal? Is anyone there?"

This was unexpected. As far as he could tell, the enemy team didn't have any electronic warfare Zoids, which made him wonder what was going on. "Anyone?" He asked again. "Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Before he got as reply, his Zoid was rocked by a sudden hit form behind. The Parablade staggered forwards under the impact, red lights coming on across its status board. A second hit struck the Zoid, tearing through the leg armour. The Zoid honked out in pain as he fought to keep it upright, then spun it around. "Who's there?" He called out as he looked around for his attacker.

There was a blur of red as a small Zoid dashed away from him, disappearing in between a pair of buildings, then darted off down a side-street. Opening up the throttle, he set the Parablade off after it. The machine lurched to the right as it started off with its damaged leg, but managed to hobble after the smaller Zoid.

"There you are!" He called out as he sighted the other machine ducking around a corner. "You won't get away again!" He shouted as he opened fire with the Parablade's twin railguns. The two cannons spat shots at the enemy Zoid, but instead only carved chunks out of the wall of a nearby building. The Zoid sprinted away from him, again vanishing into the darkness between buildings.

"I'm under attack by a single unidentified Zoid." He called out. "Whatever it is, it's small and mobile. I'm not sure if it's a part of the other team." He wasn't sure if the others could hear him, but he was determined to report it anyway. "I'm moving to engage it."

The Parablade lunged around the corner, then opened fire again with its twin cannons. The shots tore up the alleyway, but there was no sign of the enemy Zoid. "Huh?" He asked. "Where'd it go?"

As if to answer his question, the enemy bolted out from its hiding place between a pair of buildings. The large cannon mounted on its back opened fire, tearing into the Parablade's damaged flank. The Parablade's right leg, already damaged by its first attack, collapsed under the impacts, sending Eliot's Zoid crashing to the ground.

"I'm down!" He called out over the communicator. "Repeat, I'm down."

He desperately searched around for some sign of his attacker, only just sitting them as they leaped away from his Zoid and scampered off. He recongised the small Zoid as a Guntiger, a machine designed for urban combat. Because of its small size, very few pilots in the ZBC used them - and certainly none that were in either of the two teams that were in this battle.

_What the hell is going on? _He asked himself.

oOoOo

The Blade Liger charged through the city, its pilot driving the machine towards its center. By his figuring, the two sides should now be engaged in combat with each other. While this was an opportune moment for him, he also knew that it could work to his disadvantage. Karl knew that, if he let the battle go on too long, then somebody else might take out the Zoid he was targeting. If so, then all he had done so far would be for nothing. Vengeance was meaningless if somebody else did the work for you. No, he figured that he had to take out that single annoying Zero, and its pilot, himself.

He'd decided to go with an unsubtle approach to the situation. His plan was to simply charge into the battle and cut down anyone who got in the way. He knew that he had the element of surprise, which would give him a considerable advantage; certainly he knew that nobody on the battlefield would be expecting him to appear.

He privately hoped that the first Zoid he came across was either the Iron Kong or Death Raser piloted by the two team leaders. Taking them down would weaken their respective teams, and he knew that, after the Zero, they were the most dangerous Zoids on the battlefield. It would make him look good and prove his capabilities if he could defeat the leaders of both teams and then his own greatest rival. But first, he had to find them.

The Blade Liger's sensors beeped at him, indicating the presence of a nearby enemy Zoid. While he couldn't identify it, he knew that, whatever it was, it would be his first target. He opened up the Zoid's throttle, the Liger tearing along the city street before skidding around a corner to face its foe. "You're mine now!" Karl sneered as he prepared to attack.

When he sighted the Zoid, however, it was no what he expected. The enemy machine was a blue and green Molga, mounting a massive CP-07 Shot Cannon on its back. The Zoid was side on to his, and seemed to be unaware of his presence. Instead, it fired its cannon, the shot arcing up over a building and out of sight.

Slash didn't recall either ream having a Molga, but, at the same time, he didn't really care. It was his first target, and his first step on the path to revenge against those who had humiliated him. The Liger charged at the enemy Zoid, opening fire with its dual-barreled impact cannon. The shots tore into the Molga's thick armour, blasting apart the plating over its flank, leaving a gaping hole in its side.

The enemy Zoid frantically tried to turn, its caterpillar-like design hampering its ability to move in the tight confines of the city. "You won't escape from me!" Slash called out as his Zoid charged straight at it. The Liger leaped at it, then slashed downwards at the Molga. The claws sliced through the Molga's shot cannon, ripping the weapon apart and scattering debris across the street.

Slash's Zoid landed on the far side of the Molga and skidded, coming around for another attack. The enemy pilot, clearly aware of his chances of defeating the Blade Liger, jettisoned the remnants of the cannon and instead crawled away as fast as possible. The Zoid charged straight at a nearby building, opening fire with its quad head-mounted cannons. The shots blasted apart the concrete wall, doing enough damage to allow the Molga to crash through it, vanishing inside the building and into the darkness.

The Blade Liger skidded to a halt in front of the damaged building, Slash glaring at the hole in its side where the Molga had retreated to. He considered ways to get in there and flush it out, but then figured that it wasn't worth his time. The small Zoid posed no threat to him, and he had more important things to deal with. The Blade Liger turned and walked away from the Molga, then burst into a run.

oOoOo

The Cannon Caesar's top mounted dual beam cannons opened fire, spitting shots at the Iron Kong. The two blasts smashed into the Zoid's massively armoured chest, tearing up some of the armour but not apparently doing anything else. Staggered from the attack but not out of action, the massive Zoid turned to face its attacker.

Not waning to go toe-to-toe with such a massive opponent, Ken Marsh opened up the Cannon Caesar's throttle. The Zoid broke into a strange, hopping run, springing away from the Iron Kong and ducking behind a row of buildings, just as the Kong opened fire with its main beam cannon. The beam blasted through a building right behind him, puncturing through it and sending chunks of concrete flying. Several spanged off the Cannon Caesar's hull, but didn't do too much more then chip its paint.

The Zoid squatted down, using its low profile to duck behind a row of buildings to hide it from the Iron Kong's line of fire. At the same time, its stealth armour and signature suppression helped conceal it from the enemy Zoid sensors. His plan was simple; use the fire from the Cannonry Molga to keep the enemy busy, then loop around and attack them from behind.

"That'll fix those bastards good." He muttered to himself. "Goddam self-aggrandizing bastards."

Like many of the other Dark Hunters, Ken wasn't a typical criminal or thug recruited into the NUBG. In fact, he'd been a mercenary pilot for several years before he heard about NUBG. Initially he didn't care for them; to his mind, competitive Zoid warriors were weaklings regardless of if they were ZBC, NUBG or whatever. Of course when NUBG had approached him with an offer to head up a team for a very large sum, he'd suddenly been a lot more interested.

His team hadn't done much more then fight a few matches so far; it was good money and he had no reason to complain. Of course, when the boss had approached him about setting up a battle against not one but two ZBC teams in his favorite environment, he'd leaped at the opportunity.

Besides it was giving him a chance to work on the other love of his life; comedy. He'd always wanted to be a comedian, but nobody ever seemed to laugh at his jokes. Nobody seemed to understand the pressures that comedians were under, especially those struggling to find a name for themselves. However, after today he thought he'd have some great material.

"What do you get when you cross two ZBC teams with a NUBG one?" He muttered to himself. "A big fat cash bonus." _Perfect. _And then the next volley from Des's Molga should punctuate the punchline.

Instead, nothing happened. However, his sensors wanted him that the Iron Kong was getting a lot closer to him.

"Damn it, Des!" He shouted into the communicator. "Where's that fire support?"

"I lost me gun!" Des shouted back. "Some bloody Blade Liger came along and ripped it off me!"

"Blade Liger?" He asked. "You mean a Liger Zero, right?"

"No, I mean a fricking Blade Liger!" He snapped. "The damned thing came out of nowhere and attacked me! I've had to bolt to keep myself alive!"

"That can't be right." He shook his head. "The boss didn't say anything about a Blade Liger."

"Well there's a fricking Blade Liger in this fircking arena!" He called out. "And he's trying to fricking well kill me!"

"Right." He figured the way the odds were shaping up. "Right. Keep an eye out for that Gunsniper and take it if you can. I'll try to handle things here." He changed channels. "Thomas, Kyle! Hurry up and finish off the rest of the Firestorm team and get over here. There's a situation developing that I want capped ASAP. Margo, keep an eye out for any stray communications. I want to know everything that happens here."

"Yes, boss." She replied.

"Right. Lets try and get this back under control."

The Cannon Caesar hopped down the street, trying to stay out of the Kong's line of fire. Figuring that he could no longer reply on fire support, Ken tried to figure a new plan for his next move. Taking the Kong suddenly got a lot harder, but he figured that he could still manage it.

The Caesar's sensors bleeped as a Zoid literally stepped out in front of him at a crossroads. The two pilots saw each other at more or less the same time, however Ken was able to react before the enemy Command Wolf did. Not bothering to figure who the pilot was or where they came form or how they got into this battle, he simply swiped at it with the Caesar's claws. The three long blades slashed across the back of the Wolf, literally ripping apart the top mounted cannon turret.

The Command Wolf's pilot reacted to the destruction of its cannons in the way he expected. The Zoid fired its smoke dischargers and broke into a run, loping away from the Cannon Caesar. Ken opened fire with the top beam cannon, firing blindly into the smoke. He was aiming less to hit the Wolf and more to discourage it from coming back. The shots seemed to have the desired effect; there was no sign of the enemy machine.

"Good." He muttered, bringing his Zoid around. He couldn't be bothered dealing with this attacker now; they were crippled and he had more pressing matters to deal with - like winning the battle. Still, this little… incident had its upside.

"What do you call a guy who interferes with an NUBG battle?" He asked himself. "Dead."

oOoOo

"Stephen, come in." Rose began as she hammered her communicator. "Can you hear me?" There was no reply. He'd been off the air for several minutes now, which worried her. "Tasch, are you there? Neil? Anyone?"

This was definitely not good. She couldn't reach anyone, even the ZBC command center inside the arena. At the same time, her sensors were being erratic, with a lot more clutter and junk on her screens then she'd expect, even in a city. She knew enough to know when she was being jammed, which made her wonder who it was. _Does one of the Firestorm Zoids have a jammer, _she asked herself. _Maybe they modified one of them..._

Her Zero cautiously moved towards the center of the city, looking around for any signs of an opponent. She didn't like the way the city had remained so... quiet. She was almost expecting something to leap out and attack her, especially after Neil's comments about slasher movies.

_Now you're going nuts, Rose, _she thought to herself. _Just remain calm._

The liger stepped into a large intersection where six roads crossed each other. As she looked around, a second Zoid stepped into the intersection, a blue Koenig Wolf. "Oh..." She began. "It's you."

"I'd hoped to meet you again." Drake replied.

_Okay, think, Rose. You're faster then him and, when he's carrying those weapons, more agile. You're not going to win a shooting match with him by a long way. Only one thing for it._

She opened up the throttle and fired the boosters, the Liger charging straight at the Koenig Wolf. As she charged, she opened fire with the Impact Cannon, aiming less to knock him as to suppress him or tie him down. Drake reacted quickly, the Koenig Wolf leaping to one side the opening fire with its twin assault rifles.

Rose slewed the control as a line of shots tire towards her. Several rounds struck the Liger in the flank, while the others went past it, tearing a line in the pavement and the side of a nearby building. Keeping the throttle open, she charged again at the Wolf, the claws glowing a brilliant golden colour as they charged up for the attack.

Before she could attack, however, the Wolf did something unexpected. Drake launched one of the missile pods, firing them off at near point blank range. Lacking the time and distance to properly arm themselves, most of them went wide. Two of them, however, struck the Liger in the chest, enough to throw both it and its pilot off their attack.

Seeing a chance, Drake charged at her Liger, swiping at it with the Wolf's claws, raking them across the Liger's leg. The Zoid stumbled, giving Drake an opportunity. The Wolf lunged at the Liger, its jaws open, ready to bite down on the Zero's neck. Twisting the controls, Rose barely managed to evade the attack, her Zoid leaping out of the way.

For a moment, the two Zoids circled each other, each of them staring and snarling at the other. "I must admit," Drake began as he stared down Rose's Zoid. "Your plan is rather sound. Jamming all our communications so we couldn't coordinate was a very good move."

"Us?" Rose asked. "I thought you were jamming our communications. We haven't been able to reach each other."

"That's odd..." Drake commented. "So if you're not jamming our communications... then who is? And who would want to disrupt both of our teams?"

"Ah hell." Rose began as she instantly realised who it could be. "It's got to be NUBG." She quietly muttered under her breath as she figured what it meant. "Damn it, how did they get in here?"

"We'll have to worry about that later." Drake replied. "For the moment, I suggest that we may not want to continue our battle. There may be more pressing concerns."

"I agree." Rose replied. "They've got us in a bad, bad situation as it is; we're spending all our efforts on fighting each other."

"So then here's what we'll do." Drake began. "I know that one of our team is out of action. We'll try to round up the rest of yours first, then try to get them back together. The Redler will be very useful in tracking down whoever's causing the jamming. Then we'll-"

"Drake, look out!" Rose shouted out as a small Zoid burst out from cover, charging at the pair of them. The small red Zoid ran at the Koenig Wolf from behind, the muzzle of a cannon protruding form behind its head. The cannon fired, its shots slamming into the Wolf's lower leg. A chunk of metal tore away, along with one of the bright green gyrocaps. The Wolf yelped in pain, stumbling as Drake tried to stablise it.

Rose turned to open fire on the fleeing Guntiger, rippling off several shots from the impact cannon. The blasts narrowly missed the Tiger, instead blasting apart the road around it. The Liger roared, then leaped off after it before Drake shouted out. "Rose! Don't follow him."

"Why not?" She called back, the Zero poised to take off after the Guntiger. "I mean, he's from the NUBG team, right?"

"Yes, but he wants you to follow after him." Drake explained. "That way, he can lead you into an ambush and, at the same time, separate us and make us more vulnerable."

"Crap." Rose paused. "I didn't think of that."

"No, its okay. You're fighting in a very unfamiliar environment." He explained. "Urban combat is far from easy. You can't anticipate their every move."

"So what's our next move?" She asked. "We can't just stand here."

"My Zoid is damaged but it still can move." Drake offered. "Let's try to find the rest of your team first."

"Um, sure." Rose replied. She didn't want to admit it, but she was actually a bit surprised that Drake wanted to work with her. _This is... wow! I never dreamed that something like this would happen. I mean, him and me fighting alongside each other... its just incredible. Wow. _The Liger growled to itself and set off, the Koenig Wolf limping along after it.

"Keep your eyes open. Rose." Drake continued. "We have no idea what the enemy force has, nor where they are. If you see anything that could be an enemy Zoid, let me know."

"Uh, sure." She replied. "I'll do what I can." Despite the seriousness of the situation, she was pretty sure that she was blushing.

After only a minute of walking - it seemed like longer - the pair of them approached an intersection, the road branching off in three different directions. "Which way do we go now?" Rose asked as she glanced around. "I don't know where the rest of my team will be."

"I think we have a more pressing concern." Drake replied. "Look up ahead."

Another Zoid emerged from an intersection ahead, and turned to face the pair of them. Larger then either Zoid, but similar in shape and colour to Rose's Liger, she instantly recognised it. "A Blade Liger Mirage..." she began. "Ah, crap. It's Slash."

"Slash?" Drake asked. "Oh yes. But I thought that he wasn't meant to be in this battle."

"Neither were the NUBG." She commented. "And this guy has a mad-on against me."

"You in the Koenig Wolf." Slash called out as his Zoid turned to face the pair of them. "I have no quarrel with you. You can leave now."

"You've illegally entered this battle." Drake replied. "It is you who should be leaving."

"Very well then." He replied. "But I won't be responsible for what happens." The Blade Liger roared loudly, then charged at the two Zoids, its two attack boosters leaving brilliant white flares in its wake. The Zoid thundered towards them at high speed, eating up the distance.

"Go!" Drake shouted. "I've got a damaged leg. You don't!" The Koenig Wolf leveled its win rifles at the charging Blade Liger and opened fire. The Shots bounced harmlessly off the other Zoid's energy shield, its momentum unaffected by the attacks.

Rose watched what was happening, then figured out her plan of attack. "Right!" She called out. The Zero leaped away from the damaged Koenig Wolf, running off down a side-street away from it. The Blade Liger suddenly stopped in mid charge, skidding as it tried to come around to chase her down. The Zoid turned to face her, leaving the Wolf behind.

Seeing his chance, Drake opened fire with one of the missile pods on his Zoid's forelegs. The missiles arced out of their launcher, spiraling away from the Koenig wolf and heading for the Blade Liger's exposed flank and rear which were not covered by the shield. Karl must have realised what was happening, as at the last second he tried to veer away from the attack. Unfortunately, it was too late; the missiles slammed into the Blade Liger's rear, sending it sprawling across the street. The Zoid crashed into a building on one side of the road, then bounced back, slamming into the pavement below it. The Zoid skidded propelled by the momentum of its own attack boosters, then came to a halt in the middle of the street.

"Sucker." Rose began as she bought the Zero around in a tight turn. Her own Zoid roared as it charged at the Blade Liger, the claws again glowing in readiness to strike. Slash seemed to have been not too badly shaken by the crash, as he managed to bring the Zoid to his feet before she could attack. The Liger flipped its blades out, then prepared to charge.

Fortunately, Rose was faster. She swerved the Zero to one side then ran at the Blade Liger, just as the larger Zoid was leaping into its charge. Rose's Zoid leaped over the Blade liger, then bought its claws down on the other liger's side. The Strike Laser Claw cleaved through the Blade Liger's flank, shredding the armour and then tearing through the mounting for the blade and attack booster. The dismembered components crashed to the ground while the Blade Liger continued its charge.

As she landed, Rose fired off several shots form the tail-mounted beam cannon, firing wildly in the direction of the Blade Liger's rear section. At least one of the beams found its mark, slicing though the Zoids already damaged rear armour and clearly striking something vital inside it. The Blade Liger stumbled, black smoke billowing from its damaged flank.

"Now, Slash." Rose began in a mocking tone. "You've got no place in this battle. You can go now."

here was a pause for a moment, then finally he spoke up. "This isn't the end between us. You can count on it." The Blade Liger fired its body-mounted boosters, leaping away from the pair of them and vanishing into the maze of buildings.

"Not bad, huh Drake?" Rose asked, then turned back to face him. "I mean, we showed him... what are you doing?" The Koenig Wolf's cannons were deployed, and pointed straight at her Zoid. "Drake? I thought we were meant to be working together."

"I know." He coldly replied. The Wolf's cannons fired, the shots whipping past her Zoid and instead striking something behind her. Rose glanced over her shoulder, then saw what he had been aiming at; a Gun Tiger lay in the street, its side a tangled mess of parts. "He'd been watching us for the entire battle."

"Watching us?" She asked. "Why didn't he attack us when we were busy with Slash?"

"I don't know." Drake replied. "But I think that we need to find out."

oOoOo

Tasch's Black Redler flew through the narrow streets, its pilot keeping its speed low to improve her maneuverability. She was keeping her eyes on her sensors, looking for any trace of the enemy; so far she'd found very little. But what she had seen had worried her. Her Zoid's sensors were playing up and her communications seemed to be out of action. This seemed to indicate that there was somebody jamming her, the question was who.

She knew that none of the Firestorm Team Zoids had the sort of electronic warfare equipment they'd need to block out the entire city like this. In fact, none of them had any advanced electronics save for the Koenig Wolf's optical systems. This had made her wonder if there wasn't something else going on here.

The Redler swooped down across another street, Tasch using the sensors as well as her own eyes to search the area for any signs of enemy activity. She sighed something ahead which instantly caught her attention. Lying in the middle of the road was the Firestorm team's Arosaurer, knocked out of action by what looked like a single shot to the side of the neck. "Now that's odd." She said to herself as she flew over it. "Wonder how Neil got that close to the enemy?"

The Redler banked around, Tasch making sure to keep the Zoid well below the roofline so she didn't accidentally disqualify herself. Apart from the disabled Arosaurer, the area appeared to be clear of enemy activity. Of course, now she was getting suspicious of what was actually going on. "Heck, Arosaurers don't explode themselves. So I gotta wonder what was... the heck?"

Something passed _over _he Redler, leaping from the top of one building to another, then heading off down another row of buildings. Tasch didn't get a good look at it, however, but wanted to see more. _That ain't gonna be the Parablade, 'cause they don't have any sorta boosters_, she figured. _So what in the heck is it?_

She banked the Redler at the next intersection, climbing to get as high up as she could to the buildings without going above the rim of the arena. As the Redler climbed, she spotted something; a small Zoid sprinting across a row of buildings, leaping form rooftop to rooftop. She moved closer to it, trying to get a look at it.

"Hey, that ain't a Gunsniper!" She called out as she spotted the enemy Zoid. She recognised it as being a Snipemaster, one equipped with the same cannons as her own Zoid. Immediately she knew that it wasn't on either her team or the enemy one. instead, it had to be... "Goddam NUBG." She muttered. "Can't stand 'em!"

The Redler pulled level with the running Snipemaster, flying on a course parallel to its path. Leaving the boosters off, Tasch slewed the twin cannons towards the enemy Zoid, then opened fore. The weapons spat fire at the Snipemaster, shots tearing into the roof near it.

The Snipemaster's pilot fired his own boosters, leaping away form her Zoid and dashing off in a different direction. Not wanting to let him get away, Tasch pushed the Redler around a tight turn, trying to keep him in her sights. Instead he dropped down off one of the roofs, disappearing into the streets.

"Dangit." She swore to herself. The Snipe Master, like her own Redler, was a stealthy Zoid. Now that it was down on the street level, it would be almost impossible for her to find it. Still, she didn't want to let it get away. She banked the Redler around another corner, heading towards the center of the city. _If he's gone anywhere,_ she figured, _it's there._

The Redler dived down closer to the street level, searching around for any signs of the enemy machine. Instead, her sensors beeped as they registered something a lot larger ahead of them. "The heck?" She commented to herself. Whatever it was, it wasn't the Snipe Master. It was a lot larger but, due to the interference, she couldn't figure what it was. However, she did figure that it was hostile.

The Redler dived towards the enemy Zoid, its pilot trying to get a visual identification on it. As soon as it came into view, she recognised what it was; a Dimetrodon. "Hey! He's the one jammin' all our stuff!" She called out as she headed for it. Fortunately for her, the enemy Zoid seemed not to have seen her approach. "I guess this stealth stuff really does work," she added.

The only problem was that her twin beam cannons wouldn't do too much against the Dimetrodon's thick hull. Which meant that she needed some other way to take it out of action. Quickly figuring out a plan of attack, she dived towards the enemy Zoid, seemingly heading straight for it.

The Dimetrodon's pilot must have seen her approaching, opening fire at the last second with the twin tail-mounted cannons. The shots narrowly missed her Redler, which continued to dive at the Dimetrodon. Tasch's Zoid raked its claws across the Dimetrodon's back, shredding the array of fins mounted there. The Dimnetrodon bellowed out in anger as Tasch pulled back on the control stick, climbing away from the damaged enemy Zoid.

"Hey guys, can y'all hear me?" She called out over the communicator. "Y'know how we've all been kinda jammed? I think I've fixed that now."

oOoOo

"Say what?" Neil commented, then checked his radar scope. "Hey yeah, Tasch, I can see... stuff." He grinned broadly. "Whatever you did, you're amazing.

"Ah heck." Tasch called back. "I didn't do nothin' too special."

"So what was happening?" He called out as the Gunsniper turned to head back towards where Stephen and Rose had last been. "Why did we all go off the air?"

"Well, there was a Dimetrodon in the middle of the battlefield and it was messin' with all our electronics and stuff."

"A Dimetrodon?" He asked. "Firestorm doesn't have one of them."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin' too." Tasch continued. "Then I figured it out that it had to be NUBG 'cause I couldn't think of who else it could be... 'cause nobody else woulda appeared in the middle of our battle like that."

"I guess that makes sense." Neil called back. "So what do we have besides the Dimetrodon."

"I dunno." Tasch commented. "I did see a Snipe Master, however."

"Ah great." Neil rolled his eyes. "A Snipe Master in a city. That's all we need."

"I dunno." Tasch replied. "'cause it wouldn't be all we'd need. If there was a Snipe Master in a city, you'd want a good electronics Zoid like a Gorheks to locate it with."

"...don't you ever change, Tasch." He added with a grin.

"Why? Do y'all want me to?"

"Never mind." He replied. "Right. I'm heading back towards where Stephen and Rose were. Let's meet up and see what those two are up to." Neil opened up the throttle, the Gunsniper sprinting through the crowded city streets.

Another Zoid pased across a crossroads just ahead of him, dashing out of his sight before he could get a good look at it. _What was... hey, the Snipe Master! _Firing the Gunsniper's boosters, he turned his Zoid around the intersection and headed after the other machine. Just as he thought, it was indeed the Snipe Master that Tasch had warned him about. "Well, at least I hope it is." He commented to himself. "I'd hate for there to be two of them on the loose in here."

Neil opened fire with the two wrist-mounted gattling cannons, spraying shots at the enemy Zoid. Several hit it in the back before it fired its own boosters, suddenly swerving out of his way. The Zoid ducked in between a pair of buildings, Neil turning to follow it. _Those are the same boosters that Tasch uses. And it looks like this guy knows how to use them as well as she does._

The Snipe Master took a running leap, using the boosters to vault itself up onto a low building, and then another higher one. Neil opened up the throttle, leaping at the building with his own boosters. The Gunsniper came short, however, instead trying to reach for the edge of the building with its claws. "Oh hell." Neil muttered as his Zoid flailed around, then fell back to the street Level. The Zoid landed on its feet with a bone jarring crunch.

"Now what?" Neil asked himself. He knew that the Snipe Master would be hiding somewhere above him, but he had no idea where. More importantly, he knew that it could easily spot and pluck him off before he could do anything about it. He desperately searched around for any cover, trying to find a place to hide.

The Gunsniper broke into a run, dashing away form the blind alley where it had been hiding. Just as it set off, a shell slammed into the wall just behind where it had been, spraying his Zoid with concrete shrapnel. "Ah hell!" He called out as the Zoid darted across an empty street and ducked into another blind alley. "This is not my day."

He glanced around at the roofline, trying to see if he could find the Snipe Master. He had a rough idea of where it had fired from, but he was hoping to get a better look at it. If he could find it, then maybe he'd have a shot at returning its fire. "Of course, I'd need to find a good angle to shoot form. And he's on higher ground. And I've never used the tail gun."

He glanced around, then spotted something on the top of a nearby building. There was something up there that didn't blend in with the featureless grey boxes that accounted for the city's structures. Most of them were just boxes and, as a result, didn't have the usual deagree of rooftop clutter that a normal tower black would have. But one of them had _something_ up there... and it could easily be another Zoid.

"And me with bugger all of hitting him." He commented. Then a plan began to form in the back of his mind... he knew where the other Zoid was, he just had to get to it. "Hey Stephen!" He called out over the communicator. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Stephen shouted back. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Damn... I need some support over her. I've got a rooftop sniper to deal with."

"Hang on a sec..." Stephen paused. "Tasch, he's over there! Get him!" There was a sound of something flying past the Iron Kong's cockpit, followed by the sound of gunfire. "Okay, you've got a few seconds. Make it good."

"I'm going to send you targeting information." Neil called back as he pressed several buttons on the Gunsniper's control panel. "Do whatever you want with the info."

"Gotcha." Stephen replied. "Okay, I have it. Just stand well back." There was a dull roaring noise from somewhere near him, followed by another one a second later. "Just keep your head down."

"Thanks, Steve. I owe ya." He called out as the Gunsniper slinked further back, only the tiniest amount of its face visible around the corner. There was an instant of movement form the top of the roof; the Snipe Master had seen him and was turning to face him. "Ah hell!" He called out. "Come on.. .come on..."

There was a dull rumble that steadily increased in volume from above. Suddenly, the Snipe Master's barrel vanished from the top of the roof; but it was a bit too late. A pair of tactical ballistic missiles slammed into the top of the building, blowing it apart in a spectacular fireball. Chunks of concrete and steel rained down onto the streets as the top half of the building simply collapsed, vanishing in the explosion.

"Okay Steve. I think he's suppressed now." Neil added, mentally reminding himself never to annoy Stephen again.

oOoOo

"Good." Stephen called back over the communicator. "I could use some help here myself."

"On my way." Neil replied. "Give me a minute... oh. and its great to hear your voice again."

"Whatever." He muttered, then turned his attention back to the situation at hand. The Cannon Caesar was still out there, hiding somewhere nearby. Tasch had managed to keep its head dow with her strafing runs, but the Zoid seemed to have eluded her for the moment. He wasn't surprised; it had done a very good job of being evasive, and it was a stealthy design. however, without the jamming form the enemy Dimetrodon, he knew that he had a much better chance against it.

He searched around, looking for any sign of the other Zoid, wanting to get off a shot at it before the enemy Zoid got a chance to strike. Unfortunately, he figured, the other Zoid was going to get the chance first.

As if to prove him right, the Ceasar again opened up from seemingly nowhere with its dual beam cannon. The shots slammed into the Iron Kong's arm and chest, blasting through the already damaged armour. _One more hit like that and I'm in real trouble. Only one option now..._

Stephen stomped on the foot pedals, the iron Kong's jets firing and lifting it into the air. As he lifted off, he dropped the targeting sights onto the enemy Zoid, opening fire with the missile pod concealed in his left shoulder. The missiles streaked towards the enemy Zoid, which quickly ducked behind another building. As Stephen had expected, the missiles struck the building, blowing it apart rather then the enemy Zoid.

As he landed, he flicked on the Iron Kong's composite sensor system. The sensors managed to find the rough shape of the enemy Zoid inside the smoke and debris of the ruins. "Not so smart without your electronic support, are you?" He asked as he dropped his sights onto the other Zoid.

He opened up with the Hyperbeam Cannon, the shot streaking straight at the enemy Zoid. The Cannon Caesar tried to twist out of its line of fire, but was not completely successful. The shot tore through its side, ripping the right arm apart and leaving a long scar across the side of its body. The Cannon Caesar staggered back, but quickly regained its feet. The Zoid broke into a run, dashing behind a row of buildings.

"Now, Tasch!" Stephen called out. "Let him have it!"

"Sure thing!" She replied. The Redler dived down, opening fire on the damaged enemy Zoid with its own beam cannons. The shots tore into its back, blasting apart the dual barreled cannon mounted on top of it. The enemy Zoid stumbled forwards, but managed to retain its footing despite the damage it had taken.

The enemy Zoid replied with hte triple cannon array mounted on its back, opening up on the Redler. Several shots struck Tasch's Zoid, shredding amour off its wings and fuselage. The Redler pulled away from the attack, trailing smoke form several hits.

"Tasch, are you okay?" He called out.

"Yeah, I'm good." She replied. "He's yours now. Go get 'im!"

Stephen didn't need to be told twice. With its main cannon out of action, the Cannon Ceasar would be an easy target for him. The Iron Kong knuckled its way across the street, heading after the enemy Zoid. Seeing it limping across an intersection, Stephen dropped his sights onto the damaged Zoid. "You arses have messed with me once to often." He snarled. "And I, for one am damn well getting sick of-"

Before he could fire, Miles' Death Raser leaped out from a nearby side-street, charging at the Iron Kong. Its plasma blades ripped through the Iron Kong's damaged arm, slicing through the structure. The arm collapsed, the Zoid shifting and then collapsing onto its side.

"Miles, you bastard!" Stephen called out. "I was about to get him!"

"Yeah, but you're worth competition points." Miles replied, a smug tone in his voice. "And he isn't." The Iron Kong struggled back to its feet, its damaged arm creaking ominously. "Oh no, you don't, Stephen." He replied, the Death Raser hissing at his Zoid. Its quad plasma blades sticking out from the sides of its body, crackling with energy. "I'm gonna see that you go down hard."

Abruptly, the armour on the back of the Death Raser's neck exploded apart. The Zoid let out a loud roar, then collapsed, falling flat, its head crashing to the ground. Its blades crackled ofr a moment, then quietly fizzled off.

"Wha?" Stephen asked. "Who was that?"

"Well what do you know." Neil commented. "I can actually hit something with this thing."

oOoOo

Ken kept the Cannon Caesar's throttle open as far as he could, pushing the battered machine to go as fast as possible. He knew a bad situation when he saw one, and he was looking at one now. "All units, report in!" He called out. He needed to asses their status and see if the situation could be salvaged.

"This is Hunter Two." Margo began. "My arrays out of action. They've got all their sensors and comms, and the ZBC can see us now."

"This is Hunter Three." Thomas continued. "My Zoid is out of action. Request pickup."

"This is Hunter Four." Des reported. "My Zoid is damaged with my Shot Cannon disabled. I'm no longer combat effective."

"This is Hunter Five." Kyle finished. "My Zoid is also disabled. I need to be picked up as well."

_So they were finished_, he figured. He'd had the whole battle planned and knew exactly what should have happened. However, it didn't occur; instead it had all fallen apart. And if he could figure the specific moment, he'd have to say it was when that Blade Liger and Command Wolf showed up. _So what were they doing there? _he asked himself. _Was there something that the NUBG hadn't told me?_

He'd have to asses this later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns. "All units, withdraw via the entrance we came in through. Hunter Four, collect our downed pilots and then join us. Do not engage hostiles unless attacked first. As soon as we're out, disperse and then regroup at our drop-off point. Maintain radio silence until then." He glared over his status board. "Out."

This battle had gone form a well-planned sure thing to a total disaster. He felt lucky that he had been able to get away with three Zoids, even if two of them were damaged. Certainly he'd need to figure out exactly what had happened, and he suspected that would involve asking a few questions about who set up the battle. He'd need to find out where those other Zoids had come from and how hty'd gotten in there. He didn't know if they were also NUBG Zoids, but he wanted to find out.

All of a sudden, he didn't feel like laughing.

oOoOo

Despite the best efforts of all the other participants in the battle, both Bill and Slash had managed to escape from the arena with their Zoids more or less intact. They'd managed to evade the combined enemy fire for long enough to get to the same gate they'd entered by and then leave the arena.

"Well that was an outrageous screw up." Bill shouted out over the communicator as the two Zoids limped away, Slash's Blade Liger in the lead. "We went in there at your suggestion and got our arses kicked!"

Slash snarled to himself, but didn't bother to look at the communicator. "I didn't exactly see you helping me out there, Bill." He calmly stated. "Don't blame me fro your failiure."

"That's because I had the damn weapons torn off my Zoid!" He snapped. "What was i meant to do, go after, what, twelve Zoids with just my Zid's teeth?" He didn't mention his CP-06 Unit.

"You knew what our aims were. And you agreed to them. So don't blame me for your inability to fulfill them. You were the one who wanted to go after both teams after all."

"Both teams, Slash!" Bill yelled out. "I said both, not, well heck, all three of them. Because in case you didn't notice, there was a third team in there. One that you failed to mention to me. One that promptly proceeded to kick both our arses rather soundly."

"I didn't know anything about that other team either, Bill." He shouted back. "Don't blame me for what happened in there. My contact didn't say anything about there even being a third team in the battle. The ZBC must have changed their plan for the battle or something like that."

"So nice of your contact to tell us then." Bill muttered. "So the pair of us got our Zoids trashed for what... nothing. We didn't get any points for that, any prize money, any publicity or any crap like that. And now our team is down another member because you drove him off."

"He wasn't going to be any use to us anyway." Slash snapped back. "He was nothing but a coward, unable to do his duty for the team."

"Yeah, right." Bill continued. "Admit it, Slash. This plan was total crap from the beginning. I don't know hwy I went along with this stupid, hair-brained scheme."

"Because you had the same needs as me, Bill." He continued. "You had the same need for revenge against those that had wronged you. It was that need which drove you forwards and what continues to motivate you. No matter what the issue is, the need for vengeance is a strong calling that cannot be ignored. We must use it to drive ourselves on, Bill."

He waited for a moment, but there was no reply. "Bill?" He glanced down at the communicator, then looked back to his Command Wolf. The machine was no longer following behind him, but, instead, was lying on its side. There was a huge gash torn straight though its side, while there was debris from the machine scattered around it.

"Bill?" He asked again, a slightly nervous tone in his voice. "Bill?"

There was a sudden lour roar, followed by an electric crackle. The Liger was slammed from the side, rocking on its feet. As he fought with the controls, an ear-shattering metallic screech filled the cockpit. The Blade Liger was thrown sideways as every system on the status board seemed to light up at once. Slash was slammed against the side of the cockpit as the liger hit the ground, then slumped in his seat.

"Whu..." He gasped out as he looked over the console. His Zoid was clearly out of action, having suffered massive damage. "What happened?"

oOoOo

Not too long after the Dimetrodon had been disabled, the ZBC had tried to regain control of the situation. They'd broadcast messages to all the participants in the battle, ordering them to stand down until they could figure what had happened. It didn't really matter; only one of the Firestorm team Zoids was still operational at the time. Drake had voluntarily surrendered, knowing both that his damaged Zoid didn't stand much of a chance against the four Broken Chairs members, and that the NUBG attack would invalidate the result of the battle.

A squadron of ZBC security Zoids had swept the arena, looking for any signs of the NUBG team and hoping to detain them. They hadn't had much luck; it appeared that the NUBG force had abandoned the arena soon after the Dimetrodon's jamming array had been disabled.

Following the battle, the two teams had been given a chance to clean up. They then had been called into a briefing room so that they, and the ZBC, could get a better idea of what had happened.

"First of all, I wish to apologise for today's events." Elisa began as she stood before the eight pilots. "We're launching a full investigation as to how the NUBG were able to infiltrate the arena and evade our security precautions. Rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to find the persons responsible."

"From what we've gathered, the arena was infiltrated by a force of seven Zoids. Evidence from both the wreckage we found and the information you provided us has allowed us to pinpoint the types used." A series of images came up on the screen behind her. "Two of the enemy team's Zoids, a Guntiger and a Snipe Master, were disabled." The screens showed the wreckage of the two machines. "Both pilots escaped."

"Nice job on the building there." Neil added.

"Yeah, yeah." Stephen muttered.

"Another two were encountered by your teams and damaged, but both escaped. These were a Cannon Ceasar and a Dimetrodon." Another image came up, showing the torn wreckage of a large cannon. "A fifth Zoid took part in the battle, armed with a CP-07 shot cannon. We believe that it was a Molga, and that it also escaped the battle."

"I sure as heck didn't see a Molga." Tasch began. "An' I'd know if I had."

"I don't tink that any of our team did." Stephen continued. "How about you?"

"Nobody here did either." Drake replied, the only member of the Firestorm team even attempting conversation. MIles appeared to be sulking, while both Crystal and Eliot were watching him.

"So then what about Slash, er, Karl Schnauzer?" Rose asked. "Was he a part of this?"

"We don't know." Elisa replied. "We found the wreckage of a Command Wolf's weapons turret, which we believe was taken from one of his teammates." She bought up another image on screen. "It looks like it was ripped off the Zoid by a melee weapon."

"I know that none of us encountered a Command Wolf." Neil called out. "If I'd seen one I would have known to run away from it."

"So it would appear that the Black Hands team attacked the Molga, and were in turn attacked by one of the other NUBG Zoids, most likely the Cannon Caesar." Elisa continued.

"So we had two different groups invading the battle." Drake observed. "Fascinating."

"I'd hazard to say that each was not aware of the other." Stephen continued. "If they'd been working together, then they would have done a lot more damage to us."

"And Slash said he was after me, not anyone else." Rose added. "Which doesn't sound like NUBG."

"While we can't definitely state that it was Schnauzer's team, we will have to look into matters." Elisa continued. "Certainly we have ample grounds to suspect them."

"Given that NUBG seems to not like us, y'all think that it was their reason fer comin' here?" Tasch asked.

"I can't say for certain." Elisa replied. "I suspect that their aim was to disrupt this match both to hinder the ZBC and promote their own battles. The presence of your team here may have been incidental to their aims."

"I guess... otherwise they wouldn't have attacked the Firestormers." She glanced over at the other team. "Unless... any of you ever been in trouble with the NUBG? Like walked into one of their secret arenas and walked out again?"

"Us?" Drake asked. "Not that I know of." He looked over his team, but got only non-committal shrugs. "I'd say that the answer is no, however."

"Oh. So they only dislike us then."

"It's great to be wanted." Neil dryly quipped.

"Only if it's a good enough reward." Tasch replied. "Cause then you could turn yourself in and claim it. 'cept then you wouldn't get to spend it, though..."

"Tasch, don't think about it." Neil continued.

"Sure. I won't."

"We won't detain you any further." Elisa spoke up, trying not to think about the conversation either. "We'll escort you back to your bases, and arrange for a PKB watch on them, just in case." She nodded to the assembled group. "Unfortunately, this match has been a bit of a disaster for us. We obviously cannot award any competition points for this battle; of the three competitors Zoids taken out, only one was by a legal participant in the battle."

"Who loves ya, baby?" Neil asked the room.

"We will however arrange suitable compensation for the battle; we certainly will over repairs and possibly figure some reward based on the original prize money. Above all else, we want to thank you for your participation and your help in our investigation."

The two teams stood, heading out of the room. "Goddamn NUBG." Miles muttered. "Damn it, I had this all figured out and they screwed it all up."

Rose quietly walked over to Drake as he was leaving. "Um, I, uh, I wanted to say thanks for helping me out there with Slash, even when you didn't need to. And also for getting that Guntiger before it could get to me."

Drake nodded his head. "It isn't a problem, Rose. I'm just glad that I could assist you. I only wish that we could have had the chance to finish our battle."

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed. "Say, um, are you doing anything this week? Like, uh, if you had some time off or something, i was wondering we could, uh, I dunno, do somehting."

Drake smiled at her. "Well, I'll see what happens and let you know." He walked out of the room. "See you later."

"Bye." Rose casually replied. And then, in spite of all that had happened so far that day, she grinned.

oOoOo

By the time the Broken Chairs got back to their base, nobody was in much of a mood to go over the condition of their Zoids. Stephen and Tasch had declared that they would look after it 'tomorrow' and leave it at that. In truth, everyone was exhausted after a very grueling battle, one that they would rather not think about again.

Despite that, Rose was stil in a good mood after her earlier discussion with Drake. Of course, she didn't want to say much about it, as she didn't want to read too much into it. At least, not yet. She'd see what happened this week, then decide on whether she should tell the whole world about it.

She logged into her journal, and went over the entries. Her friends list didn't seem to have moved at all; just the same few fights and the same old stuff. There was another comment on her own earlier discussion about the battle, the same one that had been spammed by the anonymous poster before; in fact, it was a direct reply. Checking on it, she could see that it was also anonymous and had been posted within half an hour of the end of the battle. Interested, she scrolled down to it.

_Now that's a rather empty boast, given what just happened to you._

_Oh, don't think that you can hide from me. I know who you are. I know what you do. I know where you live._

_Its time for you to get bitten._

Rose quietly shuddered to herself, and then closed the tread.

oOoOo

**Authors Notes:**

Matt Groening is a genius. He created a satirical LiveJournal Whinger before LiveJournal was invented.


	10. Real Life

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Ten - Real Life

By Rick R.

oOoOo

Stephen confidently strolled into the Broken Chairs' main living room, throwing off his jacket and flinging it at a random chair. He glanced around the room as the rest of the team entered, grinning broadly. "Well done, guys." He called out. "I know I said this earlier but... that was a great battle. I'm very proud of all of you people."

"Great?" Rose commented. "That was a pushover. It was certainly not what I'd expect at this stage of the competition."

"Well I'm not complaining." Need added as he stepped past her. "At this stage of the game, an easy win is rather nice."

"Yeah, it is." Tasch added. "Because it means that you can kick back and relax an' not have to worry about havin' to fix up all our Zoids afterwards." She paused. "Well, y'all do need to get the Zodis fixed, but not that much. An' certainly none of 'em got disabled, so its nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

"...what she said." Neil added. "I, for one, am glad we managed to go a round without the NUBG sticking their noses into things. I'm certainly getting sick of those guys."

"Well, hopefully we won't have to worry about them for too much longer." Stephen added.

"Say what?" Rose asked. "What's this?"

"Don't tell me you've decided to write them a formal apology." Neil replied. "You could say 'We're sorry we beat up all your Zoids and let the police in on your secret arena. We're also sorry that your pilots are all a bunch of terminal dumbarses. We won't let it happen again. Love and kisses, Big Steve.'"

"Very funny, Neil." Stephen began.

"I don't think that's work." Tasch added. "You'd need to be a bit more sincere. An' maybe apoliogise for Rose not wanting to join NUBG."

"I don't think that anything would make me join NUBG." Rose added. "I have too much self-esteem."

"But what if you infiltrated NUBG under an alias." Tasch began. "You use a secret identity and wear a mask so that nobody knows who you are, an' then work form the inside to destroy 'em. And you would get to be their top pilot, 'cause you're a good pilot and all mysterious an' stuff and then... at the vital moment, you betray 'em all, and flee under another alias so they'll never find ya."

There was a pause. "Naw, that'd be silly." She added.

"Before Tasch hurts my head some more, can you explain what you mean?" Neil asked.

"I can't say anything for certain." He admitted. "I'm hunting around for more info on the NUBG, seeing if we can find out more about them and, more to the point, if we can do anything about them."

"What, like whack them before they can whack us sort of thing?" Neil asked. "Isn't that a little vigilante like?"

"I'm beginning to think that we can't just sit back and let them come to us." Stephen explained. "We need to do something about them."

"Well good luck then." Neil commented. "Tell me how it goes. I'm going to be elsewhere."

"Dare I ask?" Rose began. "And will they have enough food for you to filch?"

"Very funny." He commented. "Naw, me and a bunch of other pilots are getting together and doing, uh, stuff."

"Stuff?" She continued. "Care to clarify that?"

"Just... stuff." He added. "Like I'm sure you and Drake will be doing, from the sounds of things."

Rose was temporarily taken aback, surprised by what he'd said. "Drake and I are just friends." She explained. "We share a mutual interest, that's all."

"Suuuure you do." He nodded. "So you're going to... let me guess... tell him about what the K-Wolf pilot in today's battle did, so he can analyze it and comment on both his style and your own, right?"

"Of course not." She snapped.

"Whoa, okay." He raised his hands defensively. "Sorry to bring it up."

"Okay you two, break it up." Stephen began. "Let's not spoil the mood with bickering."

"Yeah." Neil muttered. "Sorry to be a nag, Rose."

"It's fine." She smiled. "Neil, right now I don't think there's terribly much that could bother me."

oOoOo

It was with a small degree of trepidation that Rachel walked into Heywood's office, a bundle of papers in hand. She'd been going over things in the week since the battle at the city arena, and was not happy with what she was finding. She felt that NUBG was being lead in a direction that she was not comfortable with, and, more to the point, she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Hey babe." Heywood looked up from his computer screen. "What's up?"

"I've been going over the last battle, sir." She began. "Especially the, um, unexpected interference from the Black Hands team." She'd been really caught off guard by that. As near as she could tell, nobody save for Heywood himself had known about it until the last minute.

"What about it, Rach?" He asked, rather indifferently.

"Well, their unexpected presence in the battle upset a lot of people who were expecting a clean fight between our team and the ZBC ones." She began. "Ken Marsh believes that their interference cost his team the match more then any other element. And a number of our backers believe that this ongoing feud with the ZBC may be detrimental to our ongoing success." She didn't mention that she shared a lot of those opinions.

"Rach, the backers can bite my big fat hairy arse." He stated as he lit up a cigar. "Do you know why?"

"No sir."

"Because our battles, specifically those against the ZBC have been outrageously successful." He explained, waving his cigar in the air. "Get this, Rach. The betting alone from those two battles has been more then anything else we've done since the start of the ZBC season. The amount we've made off that alone would be enough, but there's a hell of a lot more."

"Those two have scored more paying hits on our file downloads and disc sales then any other battle we've had this year." He continued. "Only Shane and Julian's 'back from unspecified injury' match against the Death Reavers team came close, and that was by a huge margin. Think about it; four of NUBG's best pilots and the one battle, and they still wanted to see the ZBC more."

"But the risks-"

"Don't talk to me about the risks, Rach." He cut her off. "Let's take that match between the Lizards and that craphole in the Brach. Do you know what that match was like, Rach?"

"Well, no…"

"Utter crap." He replied. "It was the sort of thing I'd expect out of some mudhole arena in outback Europa featuring two pig farmers going at it. It was as boring as Zabatcrap, and about as heavily bet on. And the worst part is, Rach, too many of our matches are like that. The audience is sick of the formula, sick of the same old same old crap. What thy want is something edgy and tense, something daring and different. And by going at it with the ZBC, we're delivering that."

"Yes sir." She replied. "But there are concerns about-"

"Rach, who runs NUBG, you or me?"

"You do, sir."

"And who makes the decisions on how NUBG is run?"

"You do, sir." She repeated, a tad reluctantly.

"See?" Heywood took a drag off his cigar. "And do you know why I run NUBG?" He asked. "Because I'm the only guy with the creativity and the balls to do it."

"Yes, sir."

"Rach, we took a major hit in the arse when we lost that arena earlier this year." He explained, a sudden serious tone to his voice. "And we have to make that back. These battles against the ZBC have been a big part of it. We've done well so far. Not enough to pay for what we lost, but more then enough to keep us above water. And while the backers may be grumbling, they certainly are still keeping the cash rolling in. And do you know why they do that, Rach?"

"No sir." She replied, even though she did. She felt that it would be beneficial to let Heywood get this out of his system.

"Because, deep down, they _like _what we sell, Rach." He explained. "They like the blood, the violence, the chance that some guy will be suddenly offed. They get their kicks off it, actually. They enjoy every second of it. They want something horrible, something confrontational that disrupts and jars their cushy lives while still being entertained. And that's why they keep pumping money into us, Rach. That's why they always will."

"Yes sir."

"You see, Rach, I know what the people want." He explained. "Years ago, I ran a fan magazine about Zoid battles. Now while a lot of people thought that Zoid battles were exciting, I found the ZBC stiff to be crap-arse boring. But when I saw stuff on illegal, unsanctioned battles, now that was interesting. So I printed stuff, and saw that it was popular."

"And that's how I ended up here, Rach, running the planet's first and only organized illegal Zoid battle ring." He grinned. "I know what the fans want, Rach. Not the average Joe with his wife, kids and mortgage who turns up to the ZBC battles, cheers for Generic Team A and buys a few shirts. No, I know what the smart fans, the _cool _fans, the ones who actually have a clue as to what's going on want. It's for them that I do this Rach. I'm one of them, and I have never forgotten my origins."

"And besides, there's a subtle irony to this all." He leered. "You see, I hate big companies. I hate the filthy rich. I hate those morons who think that just because they've got a big wad they can tell me what to do. And look at how it turns out. Here's me with a bunch of Big Money behind me. It's those people who give me my income, Rach. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Yes sir." She admitted.

"So for now, the plan is to keep going how we are." He leaned back on his chair. "I want to do another invasion soon, though, and take another shot at that team. The betting's getting too good for me to pass it up. Everyone wants to see their faces getting rubbed in it, Rach, and they know that NUBG is the best place to see it happen."

He grinned as broadly as he could. "And besides, I have a special plan for what to do next. A nicely ironic one, at that."

"Sir?"

"I think its time to find some use for one of our long-term guests." He replied. "Given that she's responsible for all this crap, I think that it'd make for an amusing battle, don't you?"

"I really couldn't say, sir."

"Heh, there ya go. That's why I'm the boss here. Because I know what's going on."

"Of course you do, sir," she finished with some reluctance.

oOoOo

With everyone suddenly out and about and, more to the point, doing different things, Tasch had found that she suddenly had the base all to herself. It wasn't something she was that used to; usually there were at least two people here at a time, and when they went out, they tended to do things in groups. So it had left her with a lot of time on her hands and no idea of what to do with it.

She and Stephen had already done all the work they needed on the team's Zoids, getting them all into full running condition after the battle. A lot of the damage had been a lighter then she had expected, which had made their job a lot easier, as well as easing up the strain on their depleted supplies.

So instead, Tasch had decided to take the time out to do something that she had been putting off for a while, which she felt bad about. It was something that she had meant to do regularly, but, well, never had. She stat down on the couch, her laptop in front of her and began typing, writing out a letter to her older sister.

The two of them had been close when younger but her sister had left home a while ago. They kind of lost track after that, her sister having gotten a job that meant she traveled a lot. The result was that they rarely wrote to each other and almost never saw each other.

Worst part of it was, Tasch couldn't even remember what she did for a job.

_Heya Siske._

_Tasch here, but you probably figured all that from the header. Sorry I haven't written in such a long time, but the tournament and other stuff has kept me very busy. This is the first good chance I've gotten in a bit to write and stuff._

_Anyways, my team - actually, I really should tell you about the team now that I know them a lot better, cause last letter I barely knew them. Anyways, my team are pretty cool. They've now got a name, being called the Broken Chairs. It's a neat name because nobody else has a team name like that, you know. We had to make sure of that, so we had a big argument over it all._

_Most of them are okay though. Stephen acts like he's the boss and since he's got the biggest Zoid and he's taller then anyone else it seems fair. He does know what he's doing though and is very good at planning and stuff like that. He does get angry a lot though and sometimes gets all shouty. But generally he's okay if you don't annoy him that much. He's also decently good at fixing Zoids and stuff, which is always handy._

_Stephen used to have a job as a technical support guy, which he says made him the Zoid pilot that he is today. He also collects guns, so I wonder if the two are related._

_On the other hand, Neil's kinda neat. He makes a lot of strange jokes and steals everyone's chips but he does it in a nice way so then that's all good with me. At first he wasn't very talky but now he is, and he seems to always have something to say about something. But that's in a nice way, mind you. Neil says that he's a bad pilot and we should just use him as bait, but I think that he's good. He beat a Death Raser the other day, so that ain't too bad, especially in a Gunsniper._

_Rose was a bit mean to start with and always seemed to be snapping at people, like we'd done something to her but we had no idea what it was. But she's a lot better now, actually and seems to be pretty happy with the team. She's a good pilot but she tends to ask a lot of strange questions. Like she keeps asking me how my brain works. How do I know? I ain't a neurologist or anything like that._

_All that being said, she needs to pull her pants up. Her underdaks keep hanging out of them._

_Rose has got the most Zoid experience of all of us because her father was a famous Zoid pilot and ZBC champion. Her older sister is also a former champion. She dropped by once and was quite a friendly person. Rose pilots a Liger Zero and so does her sister, which makes me wonder if pointy cats don't run in the family. _

_The NUBG, by comparison, are really not nice. Rose got into some trouble with them that wasn't her fault and as a result they keep on trying to attack us. Fortunately we keep on beating them so it ain't too bad. Rose tends to say that NUBG are stupid but Stephen thinks she's being a bit presumptuous. I think I agree with her. After all, they keep on loosing to us and they keep on trying again._

_The rest of the tourney is going well. We're yet to loose a match and my own Zoid has never been disabled. In fact, it's the only Zoid in the team that hasn't been knocked out at least once so far, so that's petty good to my mind. Of course, things are going to be getting a lot tougher from here, so we need to be careful. But I still feel confident, but not overconfident if you know what I mean._

_We haven't really thought about what we'll do after the end of the season. I guess well find out when we get there. Personally I think we might want to do up the base a bit. While much of it is a nice shade of grey that I really like, nobody else seems to for some reason. But it is also a bit cold and damp and probably could use a few less holes in the roof. And then we need to do over the back of the place because it's all a big mess of weeds and concrete rubble and stuff._

_Anyway, I should probably go because this e-mail is already pretty long. Mum and dad say hi and wish you would write more often. I tell them not to worry because you're pretty smart and can look after yourself but, well, you know how mum gets. I hope to hear from you soon and maybe you can drop round and say "hi" if you're ever in town._

_Love, Tasch_

She gave the E-mail a quick once over, then sent it off. "Well that's done" she added, flopping back onto the couch. "Now what in the heck am I meant to do with the rest of the evening?"

oOoOo

Neil was rather impressed by the Venom Team's base. It was a nice and neat little affair that had been purpose built, rather then being some structure that had been converted over at some point in its life. It was in the middle of a suburb of similar such structures; in essence a ready-made Zoid team community.

"Nice." He said to himself as he walked up to the base. "Very nice." He figured that a place like this would be far better for the team then their leaky reconditioned factory. But them he also figured that the waiting list for a place like this would be insane. Apparently, the city was only just ahead of the need for Zoid facilities, and this year had been the closest they'd ever come to a housing shortage. There were more new suburbs like this being built, but they wouldn't be ready until next season.

Snacks in hand and pack full of gear, he knocked on the front door of the base. After a moment, the door swung open, Laura inside. "Oh, hey there, Neil." She began, a pleasant smile on her face.

"Hi there, Laura." He replied. "I bought snacks."

"As did everyone else." She laughed. "We're in snackfood heaven tonight."

"Cool beans." He replied. "Lead on."

She lead him into a large living room where several other people were gathered around a pair of tables. While a little smaller than the living room in their base, it at the same time looked a lot more livable. The fact that it opened to a wide porch and that the walls weren't all rendered in plain grey concrete probably had something to do with it.

"Neil's here!" Laura called out to the other members of the room.

"Cool." Nadia spoke up from the far end of the table. She was seated behind a cardboard screen, all but invisible. "Take a seat, Neil and we'll make a silly attempt to get started."

Neil pulled up one nearest to her, sitting opposite Laura. "How far gone are we?"

"We're working on characters now, so feel free to get rolling." Nadia replied. "Oh, and say hi to the team. Besides Laura, there's Akira over there. Jake's just outside, having a fag before we start."

"This is a non-smoking base." Laura added. "And no dumping the ash in the potplants either!" She hastily called out through the door.

"That's cool. I don't smoke, unless I'm on fire."

Nadia giggled at him. "Good one."

"Hey there." He offered a hand to Akira. "Nice to meetcha. You're the Storm Sworder pilot from the Renegade Legion, right?"

"I am, yes." Akira nodded. "And it is good to meet you."

"You didn't strike me as the RPer kind." Neil commented. "But it takes all sorts."

"Indeed. I do enjoy a good game, actually."

"Who knows. So you got a character?"

"Yes I do." He handed a sheet to Neil. "I'm playing a Human Samurai."

For some reason Neil wasn't surprised. "That's the Samurai base class from _Warrior's Guide_, or the one from _Mystic East_?"

"The ME one."

"Aaaah. The non-broken one." He handed the sheet back. "Good to meet ya. I think that this should be fun."

"I'm playing a Halfling Sorceress." Laura spoke up.

"Amusing combo." Neil replied.

"It's different, and that's what I like." She continued. "I call her Tiffie, which is the same as my _World of Zoids _character."

"So you're a MMORPGer as well as a TTRPGer, eh?" Neil asked, Laura nodding in reply. "How's that game going? I put my account on hold a while back when I set out traveling, and haven't been arsed reactivating it."

"Well, the Digardo side has managed to degenerate into a total cesspool." She shrugged. "With each patch they either Munchkin or Nerf the Hell Armour. It got so bad at one point that stock Saber Tigers could knock 'em out with their back guns. So now the Digardos are only played as Alts by veterans looking for a few laughs or by total noobs who thing they're cool."

"That bad?" He asked as he opened a bag of chips, pouring then into a bowl on the table.

"Definitely." Laura took a sip from her drink. "Just yesterday, Tiffie was in her Brachiotort, digging for Zi-metal on the Foobah plains. Anyways, some guy called BloodRavenDeathshadow from the Bloody Death Reapers barges up to me in a Biomegaraptor and demands to get all PvPish on me."

"Wait, you were in a Brachiotort?"

"They're fun." She shrugged. "Anyways, our levels were about the same, so I said I'd think about it. I got up a bit of distance, accepted the fight and drop an AZ ICBM on his head. End of battle."

"Noice. Did he take it well?"

"Threatened me with badly spelt retaliation and ran off." She finished. "Amusing, as you can imagine."

"Definitely." He looked at her. "So who's your Clan? If I ever get back online, I might have to join ya."

"We're called the Fluffy Bunny People, and were Republican-aligned. We're tough because we can call ourselves that."

"Amusing." Neil smirked.

"And as a member of Zeekdobers ate my Baby, I am mortally opposed to her." Nadia spoke up. "Our two Clans have been feuding forever, mainly over who has the silliest names."

"I love it." He turned to Akira. "So are you a part of this?"

"No, but I do play a bit of _Eternal Journey _every now and then." He replied.

"Never played it, but know guys who do." Neil commented as he took a few chips. "What's your character?"

"A human Samurai."

"I see..." He glanced back at Nadia. "Hey, uh, what rules are we using?"

"Four point two five." She replied. "That's taking all the best bits of Fourth ed and all the Least Bad bits of the Revision."

"Makes sense. Anything I need to know?"

"Only if you plan to play a Ranger." She replied.

"That's a no."

"So what are you going for?" Laura asked. "We have Sword Dude and Spell Slinger."

"Well, you'll need a Token Healer and a Fillerbunny." Neil commented. "I'll do either. I often do."

"Sure... Hey Jake! What are you playing?"

"I dunno." Came the voice from outside. "Probably a thief."

"Token Healer it is." He finished. "I might do Druid, just for a change."

"Please do." Nadia called out. "Druids are underrated. Druids are fun. Druids make everything better."

"Guess who picked up a copy of _Warriors of the Wild _and has never ever used it?" Laura added with a smirk.

"Damn, you figured me out." Nadia raised her hands in the air in a gesture of mock surrender. "You've gotten into my head and already know all my evil plans."

"Ah, I'm sure there will be a few surprises." Neil added. "And I'm sure this will be a great night."

oOoOo

Rose had spent endless hours fussing over her dinner date, trying to figure just what to wear and how to look. One problem she had found was that most 'sexy' evening wear tended to leave most, if not all, of her tattoos hanging out, which would contrast somewhat with the look that she was trying to manufacture. To make matters worse, she had no idea how 'casual' or 'formal' the evening was.

In the end, she'd decided to improvise and go for a middle road. The warm weather meant dressing light, so she'd gone for a short-sleeved white blouse and a long but light floral-print skirt. In the end, it left only her right arm tattoo visible, but she figured that Drake would have known about it, and, more to the point, probably didn't care that much. Besides, after leaving enough of the top buttons undone, she figured his attention would be focused elsewhere.

The restaurant itself was part of the grounds of a large local pub, outdoors in a courtyard, under the shade of several large trees. They were now in early summer, making a place like this a very attractive option. It was apparently a rather casual place; seating was 'just walk in' and meals and drinks were ordered at a counter and delivered. Rose walked into the courtyard, looking around for Drake, she spied him at a table near one of the trees. He'd also gone smart casual, with a short-sleeved, button up shirt and light grey slacks.

They'd both settled in and ordered a first round of drinks, casually chatting and talking about things. Rose had found him to be surprisingly friendly, more so then she'd expected from him. He certainly didn't seem like a lot of the higher-ranked pilots she'd met, and definitely not what the stereotype indicated. He should have been all stern, strict and focused. Instead, here he was, having a good time and laughing at her lame jokes.

On the other hand, she figured, none of the former champions she'd known were anything like that stereotype ether. Stern, strict and focused were the last words she'd sure to describe Violet.

Drake returned from ordering their dinner, resuming his seat opposite her. "Shouldn't be too long." he began.

"Cool." She nodded, taking a sip from her glass. "Thanks for that."

"It's perfectly fine." He smiled. "And it is a great night for it."

"That it is." With the Daylight saving, it would be light for hours.

"So, I guess that for you, becoming a Zoid pilot was kind of inevitable, right?" He asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"It was." She admitted, recovering from the sudden switch. "I mean, dad being a famous Zoid battle champion and all. Me and Violet were pretty much raised around Zoids, so... yeah, probably inevitable."

"There weren't any problems with it?"

"Naw." She shook her head. "Mum was cool with the idea; in fact, I think she's happier we're Zoid warriors then would be models or singers or anything else. And dad, well..." Rose smirked for a moment. "Even though he never said anything, I think that Dad really wanted at least one of his children to be a famous Zoid pilot. That one of them is one of the youngest champions ever is probably just the icing on the cake for him."

"Well I can understand." He continued. "Your father was a very talented pilot. Very few people get that far in Shield Ligers. If the statistics are to be believed, it's the Liger least likely to be a champion's machine."

"Those stats lie." Rose added. "He loved to point out that they'd put Leomasters in with those stats, even though they're well above a stock Shield Liger's performance."

"True." He commented. "But then, your family is a talented one. Having fought both you and Violet, I can say that you are both very skilled pilots."

"Well, Violet's a lot better then me." She admitted.

"Violet is merely more experienced then you." He pointed out. "And she uses her own Zoid. Besides, she has had more time not only to develop her skills, but to develop her piloting style. The way she fights is... well, I'll call it unique, and leave it at that."

"She beat you for the championship, if I recall."

He nodded. "That was one of my career highlights. I felt that it was one of the best battles I'd ever been in, despite the outcome. And, being honest, I think that you could easily reach her level. You've show a degree of focus and skill that is quite extraordinary for someone of your experience."

"Thanks." She replied, blushing. "But what about you? You've been around and done a lot. Does Zoid piloting run in your family?"

"Sort of." He explained. "My family are from the Zenebas Empire. They have served in the Zenebas army for generations, going back to the first humans who landed on Zi." He explained. "So you could say that it's in my blood."

"But you're a completion Zoid warrior, not a military pilot." Rose pointed out.

"That is true." He nodded. "I felt that there was only so much that I could achieve in the service of the Empire. The planet is peaceful, and the odds of my seeing any action were remote at best. So I decided to, rather then serve in the army, become a Zoid warrior. I felt that it was the best way to develop my skills as a pilot."

"That must have gone down well." Rose commented. "Not to seem rude, but your family does sound a bit... traditional."

"You could say that." Drake admitted. "They were initially unhappy with my decision. But then after I began winning matches, they were a little more impressed. My younger brother choosing to enlist I think softened their stance some more." He took another sip from his drink, finishing it off. "Truth being told, I think they're just unhappy that I don't pilot a more 'Zenebas-like' Zoid."

Rose laughed at the last comment. "Well, if that's their worst beef with you, then you have it made."

"It would appear so." He finished with a smile.

"Another drink?" Rose asked as she emptied the last of her glass. "Might as well before dinner gets here."

"Certainly." He replied. "Could I just get another of the same?"

"Not a prob." She grinned as she stood. "Back in a minute."

She walked inside to the bar, noting how crowded the place had suddenly become. There was currently a bit of a queue at the bar, which meant that she'd have to wait. She sighed and glanced outside at Drake. _Nothing for it, then. _She turned back to the queue, trying to attract the bartender's attention.

"Hey Rose!" A voice called out from behind her.

She turned around, looking for the source of the voice, wondering who it was. Then she saw it, and her heart skipped a beat as she recognised them. The speaker was a tall woman, about Rose's height but a lot more heavily built. She had short black hair that drooped limply over her face, and piercing violet eyes. She was dressed in a black and purple top and pants that bared her midriff and arms, which only served to emphasise her physique.

"Uh, hello Jill." Rose began with some trepidation, unsure of what to say.

"Hey." She replied. "Long time no see, right?"

"Well... yes." Rose finished. "I didn't know you were, uh, in town or anything." She nervously glanced around the room.

"Just here on business." Jill replied, then grinned in a way that showed a lot of teeth. "I was catching up with a few people."

"I see." Rose nodded, smiling nervously. "And you just happened to be here."

"Yeah, funny that." Jill shrugged. "So how about you? Been up to much?"

"Not much. Got into the Zoid battles, got on a team, been kicking butt." She explained, trying to regain some of her usual confident tone.

"Oh." Jill replied rather casually. "Well, that's good to hear."

Rose didn't even want to think about what it was that Jill was up to, but at the same time was relieved that she was rather disinterested in what she was up to. "Yeah, its been pretty busy for us." She added.

"Cool, me too." Jill finished, and flashed another one of her toothy grins. "Well, tell ya what, I'll leave you and your friend to it. See you around sometime, Rose."

"Sure thing." Rose added, a relived tone in her voice. "Later."

Jill nodded then turned and walked off. Rose watched her go, quietly glad that she hadn't decide to linger or, even worse, come out to meet Drake. It was about the last thing she wanted right now.

oOoOo

Compared to where Rose was, Stephen's destination for the night couldn't have been too much more different. He'd headed over to the Industrial side of town, one of its poorer districts. From what he'd gathered since he had gotten into the city, this was where he could find information on some of society's less then desirable elements. And the last few weeks had given him a lot of interest on those.

Despite the local conditions, he wasn't that worried about anything happening to him. For the most part he figured that his sheer physical size was enough to intimidate most people and make them think twice before trying something. But if they persisted in being stupid, well, he'd taken precautions. He had been carrying a pair of guns, concealed under his coat. They'd protect him on the street but, unfortunately enough, not where he was heading.

He stepped into a dingy, street-level bar, immediately being assaulted by the smell of second hand smoke and cheap liquor together. The next thing that caught his attention was the gun check at the front door. He'd expected as such, but that didn't make him happy about it. He reluctantly handed over his weapons before stepping inside, muttering darkly to himself.

A few minutes with the bartender had told him what he needed to know. In fact, it had been something of a surprise to him. He'd been after some information, and had expected to work long and hard for it. In fact, he had been handed it on a plate. What surprised him, however, was the source of the information.

He walked over to a booth where a couple of men were sitting. From the bartender's description, he easily recongised the man he was after. The tallest of the three, he was nearly as tall and muscular as Stephen. He had close-cropped black hair and narrow black eyes that dominated his sharp, fence-looking features. He was dressed in a rather plain but still crisp shirt and jacket, the top few buttons of which were undone.

"I didn't expect to find a top-ranked Zoid pilot here." Stephen began as he glanced at the man. "At least, not a legitimate one."

The man looked at his two companions. "Give us a minute." He muttered. The pair of them got up and left, Stephen taking one of their places opposite the Zoid pilot.

"Gregor Berkut, leader of the Golden Eagles team, right?" Stephen asked.

"Yes, and?" He replied. "So what is it you're after?"

Stephen nodded. The Golden Eagles were one of the top teams in the ZBC, up there with the really big names like the Iron Giants. He didn't expect a member of such a team to be over here in the bad part of town, and certainly not to know a lot about certain other Zoid battle organisations.

"Information." He began.

"And what makes you come to me then?" He asked, glaring straight at Stephen.

"I asked around, and everyone said that you were the man to speak to. It was something of a surprise."

The man took a swig form his glass, then resumed glaring. "I didn't expect to see you in this part of town either." He stated. "A rookie like you shouldn't be in a place like this."

_So he knows me, _Stephen began, trying not to rise to the 'Rookie' comment. _Maybe then he'll know what I'm after. _"Well, I have my reasons. I know that this is where I should be to get what I want."

"And what is it you want then?" he asked, his eyes further narrowing.

"Information." He explained. "I've heard that you're the man to speak to about NUBG."

"Yes I am." Gregor explained. "But I won't help you."

Stephen snarled to himself. "And why not?"

"Because you are too young." He explained.

"Listen, mate. I'm only a few years younger then-"

"I know." He said. "But you are only a rookie in your first year. I've been in this business far longer then you have."

"And I have had a lot more experience with NUBG then you have." Stephen angrily replied.

"No, you haven't." He calmly replied.

"What?" He snapped, barely managing to suppress his rage.

"I said that I've had more experience with NUBG then you have, young man." Gregor continued. "And I can say now that you do not want to be any further involved then you already are."

"But-"

"I know about your team and what you've been through." Gregor explained. "You haven't seen what NUBG can do when they're threatened. Right now, they see you as an annoyance or, more likely a source of income. They will get over it. As long as you don't provoke them, then they won't go beyond what they're doing right now."

"And what are we meant to do?" Stephen snarled. "Just sit back and let them attack us?"

"They will tire of it over time." He explained. "They will find that the losses are outweighing the gains. A few more Zoids smashed apart for no clear benefit and-"

"And what? We make ourselves targets? We let them attack us?" He stood up, glaring at Gregor.

"No. But at the same time, you are not to go after them. Doing such will only aggravate the situation." Gregor explained. "And if I give you the information that you want, I know what you will do with it."

There was a tense silence as the two of them stared at each other. "So you won't help then."

"No." He finished. "That way, we will not cause any trouble. We will not escalate the conflict. And then things will just pass." He finished. "And trust me, that will be better. Not only for your team, but for everyone else."

"I see then." Stephen muttered. "Fine." He stood up and stalked off, leaving the table behind. Collecting his guns, he marched out, determined never to come back.

oOoOo

"Aaand with that last poke with a pointed stick, the Goblin yells out 'Hugruk-Blargh!' and keels over." Nadia finished. "Well done, guys."

"Go the pointed stick." Neil called out. "Oh yeah."

"Musashi sheathes his sword." Akira began. "He looks over the Goblins, especially their leader. 'These men fought-'"

"All righty!" Laura called out, cutting him off. "Loot time!"

Akira glared at her while Jake stood. "I'm going for a cig." He muttered as he stepped outside.

"'-these men fought very well for-'"

"So let's rummage the bodies." Neil began, glancing outside at Jake. "And this time, since Mike the thief isn't here, we'll get a fair division."

"Well, Tiffie is going to start with their pockets. What do I find?"

"'-for Goblins, warriors not usually known for their-'"

"Okay." Nadia read out. "You get eight suits of leather armour, eight crappy wooden shields, seven clubs, a very, very shiny short sword and a really fancy helmet. Oh, and fifteen silver coins and a gnawed bone."

"I call dibs on the bone then." Neil added.

"Well, I think that this is a great place to call it quits for the night." Nadia added as she collected some notes. "This has been quite incredibly fun."

"I didn't expect that you'd be able to put together a full gaming group of all Zoid pilots." Neil added. "I mean, Zoid pilots engaged in tabletop RPing? Shouldn't we all be out doing cool stuff like getting our gonads pieced, dancing till dawn and doing designer drugs?"

"I've never done any of those things." Laura commented. "And I can't do one of them."

"You got me there." Neil admitted.

"So how about the rest of your team, Neil?" Nadia asked. "You think that any of them would be interested in joining us? I'm always open to a bigger group."

"Let's se..." He considered this for a moment. "Rose would think that we were being geeks. Stephen probably would miss the finer subtleties of it, get angry and flip the table. And Tasch... well, you wouldn't want her in a gaming group. Trust me."

"Why not?"

"Well... let me put it this way." He offered. "She'd end up with a combination of race, class, skills and special abilities that seemed to be incredibly impractical at best and insane at worst. Then the instant that the dice started rolling... Well, you'd probably be standing there in slack-jawed horror as she unleashed doom."

"She didn't strike me as a power gamer." Nadia added.

"She wouldn't be, at least not on purpose." He offered. "But, well... her mind works in amusing ways."

"Now I am scared." She finished. "Ah well."

"What can I say? I'm the only gamer geek in my team. I guess it's just my thing." He glanced around. "On the other hand, I don't collect guns, glowy rocks or tattoos, so how insane can I be."

"Not that nuts, I guess." Laura went around and picked up the various empty glasses scattered across the table. At least one of them had a cigarette stubbed out in it. "Charming."

"I wanted to get your sheets if that's okay." Nadia added. "I was going to type everything up and put it on my Interweb page."

"You have one?" He said as he passed her his sheet, then Jake's as he was still out smoking.

"Oh yeah." She continued. "I've been indexing all my RP campaigns up there, as well as characters I've played in other people's games. It's even got an 'amusing death hall of fame' for those who have rubbed themselves out in unusual ways."

"Now that I like." He finished as he stuffed a few books into his pack. "You'll have to shoot me the address."

"Well, we've got a lot of team prep for this week." Nadia commented. "But I'll work on it and at least get the character stats up, maybe even fossick around for some artwork." She shrugged. "I like to illustrate characters with any old crap I can find. My page is a mess of stolen images of incredible inconsistency." She stood up, stuffing notes, books and her screen into a bag. "I may even try to find some crappy minis for us to use."

"I have to see that."

"Oh you will." She smirked. "Anyways, I had better run. Got an early start tomorrow morning with weapons practice and all. Elephanders may be cool, but they are a pain to look after."

"Sure thing." Laura called back. "Jake has already volunteered to help me clean up."

"He did?" Neil asked. "When was that? I thought he was too apathetic."

"When he dropped ash in my dammed potplants." She finished and grinned.

"Now that's classy." He added. "If it's all cool with you, Laura, I might dash as well."

She nodded to him. "Go for it, Neil. I've got things mostly under control here."

"Sure thing. See y'all." He waved to the room, before leaving with Nadia.

"I'm glad you came, Neil. And I'm glad you had a good time." She smiled at him as they stepped out the front door.

"How could I not have?" He continued. "You run a fun game. And between Laura's silliness, Akira's stoicism in the face of it and all we got up to when Jake stepped out for a cig, I was loving it."

"That's great to hear." She added. "I try to run a good, fun game, Neil. And I think tonight was a great start."

"Cool. Well count me in for next time."

"I figured as such." She finished. "See you around." She turned and walked over to a car that was waiting nearby.

"Sure thing." He added. "Laters." He turned and began to walk towards the bus stop. _Oh yeah. Great night._

oOoOo

"Whoah. Junk food overload." Neil moaned as he stumbled into the living room. He'd crawled back home surprisingly late, and had managed to make a lot of noise while doing such.

"What's wrong, you steal too many chips?" Rose shot at him.

"Har har." Neil muttered as he settled onto one of the couches. "I had a good time last night, actually. How about the rest of you?"

"Great." Rose replied, a broad grin on her face. "Absolutely fantastic, actually. I had a wonderful time, Neil."

"Wonderful." Neil commented. "You're being ridiculously chirpy when normally you're so scowly and bitey at everyone. Something has to be up."

I simply had a good time, Neil." She explained. "That's all."

"Fine then." He finished. "So, Stephen, how was your night?"

"Crap." Stephen muttered as he wandered in from the kitchen. "Completely crap. Waste of a perfectly good night and a lot of time and effort."

"Oookay then." Neil continued, knowing that it probably wouldn't achieve anything to keep asking him. A cranky and irritable Stephen was probably the last person in the world he wanted to pester on annoy. So instead he turned to Tasch who had also just entered the room. "What about you?" he asked. "You have a good time of it?"

"Yep." She cheerily replied. "I wrote a letter to my sis, which is somethin' that I've been puttin' off for a long time. An' I got to level thirty and learned to get some more types of herbs. But every time I try to gather 'em there's always some giant spiders around them who try to bite me. It's a pity, 'cause I kinda like spiders."

"You what?" Rose asked.

"I thought our backyard was a mess but… Giant Spiders?" Neil asked.

"Not our garden." She explained. "It's in Stonemountian Ridge where there's spiders."

Rose blinked. "Where's that? Is it another freaky place on Nyx?"

"Naw, it's in Laurasia, south of Ashwood and north of the Blasted Land."

"Tasch, you have completely lost me." Rose finished. "Even by your standards, you're not making sense."

"That wouldn't happen to be in _Battlecraft World_, would it?" Neil suddenly asked.

"Yeah." She explained. "Like it wasn't obvious."

"No, it wasn't." Rose began. "It wasn't obvious at all."

"I didn't know you played." Neil commented.

"Not much." Tasch continued as she opened up her laptop. "Only every now an' then like late at nights or on bad rainy days or stuff. I like to be more social with other people then with online people, y'see. 'sides, its not that convenient when I'm travellin'."

"Understandable." Neil continued. 'I never played it but I had friends who did."

"Hang on, I'll show ya FJ… she's my character." Tasch continued. "Check that, no, I won't."

"Why not?"

"'cause we got an Email from the ZBC." She explained. "Looks like a battle request."

"Really?" Rose asked, suddenly barging her way next to Tasch. "Who's it against?"

"Says here it's against the Golden Eagles team." Tasch commented.

"What?" Stephen, who had been relatively quiet, called out as he stood. "You sure?"

"Yep." She commented. "Definitely it. Unless they have a persistent typo throughout it an' sent us the wrong team info as a result. But I don't think it is, 'cause I can't think of anything that it would be a typo for. Unless it was 'Olden Eagles' or somethin', but that don't make much sense either."

"You know these guys?" Neil asked.

"Er, yeah." Stephen replied. 'They're one of the top teams in the entire ZBC. Very well established, very capable and very experienced. They're also one of the few teams that have everyone using the same Zoid."

"Which is?"

"Battle Cougars." He finished.

"Ouch." Neil offered. "We have to take on a squad of those things? Not nice."

"Well, there's only three of 'em." Tasch offered. "So then it's less not nice."

"At any rate," Stephen continued as he looked over the specs. "This is going to be one very, very difficult battle."

oOoOo

The sun shone down on the arena, with clear skies making for a beautiful day. However, this was the last thing that the members of the Broken Chairs actually wanted.

"Dangit, it's too bright." Tasch commented as her Redler walked out into the arena. "Way too bright."

"You know, I'd think that your eyes would be used to it by now." Rose replied.

"Well, it is too bright fer me." She continued. "But it ain't just that. If there's clear skies, then we're in a lotta trouble. Yeah, lots of it."

"How so?" Neil asked as his Zoid joined theirs.

"It's too clear." Tasch continued. "It means we ain't gonna have no cover from them when they're in the air." She shook her head. "So they can dive down on y'all a lot easier. An' I certainly could use some clouds to hide in so I can be all stealthy and stuff."

"We'll manage." Stephen commented. "We always find some way through." His iron Kong looked over the battlefield. "Just stay sharp and stay focused and do not panic."

"Sure." Neil replied. 'I'll just do my normal, calm and rational headless chicken act."

The doors at the other end of the arena opened up, the trio of enemy Zoids marching out into the arena. The three Zoids were identical; each sporting a bright yellow and red colour scheme trimmed with tan weapons and a massive bronze twin-barreled cannon on their back. The three Zoids stretched their wings, each ready for flight.

"A trio of McCougars, each packing serious heat." Neil continued. "This keeps on getting better."

"Just remain focused." Stephen repeated. "Keep moving and stay evasive. Try to make it as difficult for them as possible."

"That shouldn't be too hard for you, Neil." Rose quipped. "Difficult is your nature."

"You're a real laugh." he smirked.

A judge drone flew over the battlefield, cutting off any further comments. It settled over the middle of the field, before finally speaking. "The Broken Chairs versus the Golden Eagles." The electronic voice of the drone began. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

The three Battle Cougars leaped into the air the instant the battle commenced, all three going into straight vertical climbs. The Broken Chairs replied by scattering three of their Zoids splitting off and sprinting across the arena in different directions. Tasch's Redler was the exception, climbing straight at the trio of Battle Cougars.

Tasch kept her eyes on the Battle Cougars, her Redler trying to get as close to them as possible before they could turn and attack. Compared to her own Zoid, the Battle Cougar held almost all the advantages. It was faster, climbed better, accelerated faster, was more heavily armoured and a lot more heavily armed. Despite its size, it was about as agile as a Redler to boot. Or, at least, a regular Redler. She was hoping the flexible boosters would give her the edge she needed.

She opened fire with the Redler's twin beam cannons, the pair of them spiting blasts at the centre Battle Cougar. The enemy pilot must have spotted her coming, as the Zoid rolled out of her way before her beams could strike home. The trio of Zoids rolled over, two of them diving down on the team below them. The third peeled off, flying straight at Tasch's Zoid. As they closed in, it opened up with all eight of its cannons, creating a halo of fire around the Zoid's head and face.

"Heck!" Tasch called out, yanking the control stick while twisting the foot pedals. The Relder banked sharply as its flexible boosters pushed it aside, managing to avoid most of the other machine's fire. A single beam still seared across its side, ripping a long scar across the Zoid's body. As she rolled away, the enemy Battle Cougar tore through the space that her Zoid had occupied moments before, letting out a loud screech.

Glancing around, she could see that the other two were diving on the other members of her team, both opening fire with their massive arsenals. Before she could go after them, however, the third enemy Zoid wheeled around, coming back for another pass. "This is gonna be hard." She said to herself. "Okay, Tasch, let's use every trick you know."

oOoOo

The two Battle Cougars screamed down from on high, each chasing after a different target for a different reason. The first one dived at the Iron Kong, opening fire with all eight of its beam cannons, sending a wave of energy towards the larger Zoid. The beams carved long trenches in the ground, before reaching the Iron Kong itself. Stephen fired the thrusters at the last second, managing to twist his Zoid partially out of the other machine's line of fire. Several beams still carved up the armour on the Kong's left arm, carving deep gouges through it.

Stephen twisted around, the two dual-stage missiles on the Iron Kong's back launcher soaring into the air after the enemy machine. The Battle Cougar immediately pulled away from the Iron Kong, trying to climb and escape from the two missiles. The Zoid twisted around, managing to pull inside the two large weapons. The missiles streaked past the Battle Cougar, jettisoning their lower stages before coming around and again closing in on it.

The enemy pilot was clearly ready for this, however. His Zoid dived away from the pursuing weapons, heading straight back towards the arena floor while all six engines in its wings opened up. The two missiles closed in, but the Battle Cougar managed to keep ahead of them. The enemy pilot then pulled back, his Zoid suddenly climbing away. The weapons, unable to manoeuvre fast enough to keep up with him, instead slammed into the arena floor, both detonating in brilliant fireballs.

The second Battle Cougar had chosen a different target, instead diving after Rose's Liger Zero. The Zoid opened fire with its beam cannons as it closed in, waiting until it got a lot closer before opening fire. The shots tore into the Liger's side, carving off huge chunks of armour. The Zero staggered under the force of the blows, skidding across the arena floor before recovering.

"Hey! Come back here!" Rose called out, trying to draw a bead on her attacker. Unfortunately, it was already climbing away, well out of the reach of either of her weapons. As the Zoid looped around, she realised that she was virtually defenceless against it. Seeing no other option, she turned the Zero around and ran, opening up the twin boosters. Keeping one eye on the monitor, she tried to concentrate on evading the other Zoid's fire while looking for something - anything - that could give her a chance.

"Stephen!" She called out. "I need some help here!"

"I'm a little busy." He yelled back, a crackle of static bleeding into the channel. Glancing aorund, she could see the Iron Kong staggering as a volley of blasts slammed into its rear. "This guy won't let up."

"Hang on!" Neil called out. "I'll see what I can do!" The Gunsniper sprinted towards her Zoid, just as the Battle Cougar began its second pass.

Rose twisted the controls, trying to leap out of its line of fire. The other pilot seemed to be ready for this, however, the full force of the attack striking her Zoid. The blasts ripped into the Zero's side, knocking the Zoid off its feet and sending it crashing to the arena floor.

As the Battle Cougar pulled away, Neil's Gunsniper charged towards it, opening fire with both of its wrist-mounted gattling cannons. Several shots struck the enemy Zoid's side as it climbed away, leaving him behind. "Rose!" He called out. "You okay?"

"My Zoid's out of action." She muttered back. "But I'm fine. I just couldn't hit the bastard."

"I'm not having too much more luck." He added as he watched the enemy Zoid climb away, easly escaping his weapons range.

Glancing up, he could see that one of them was engaging in a twisting and turning dogfight with Tasch's Redler. That meant that there was one of them that couldn't immediately affect the battle down here. Unfortunately, it also meant that there was one member of their team who couldn't help him and Stephen out. So they came out even then.

The second Battle Cougar joined its companion, circling around before diving at Stephen's Zoid. The pair of them opened fire on the Iron Kong, each one pumping out a spectacular display of energy beams. The Iron Kong's manoeuvre thrusters again fired, the Zoid trying to twist out of the way of its two attackers. However, the enemy pilots had prepared for this, each one coming in on a separate attack run to box the Zod in and limit its options. It could avoid one or the other of them, but not both.

Shots tore into the Iron Kong's chest, slagging the armour and sending massive sheets dripping to the arena floor. Something within the Kong was struck, the Zoid staggering back as black smoke billowed out from its chest. The massive machine swayed and tottered on its feet, clearly badly damaged by the attacks.

"Stephen!" Neil called out. "Are you-"

"Barely." He muttered back. "Those guys hit hard." The Kong planet one of its massive fists into the ground, managing to stabilise itself. "Okay, I think I've got-"

"Look out!" Neil called out as the two enemy Zoids came diving at Stephen's mahcine again. Neil's warning gve him time to react, bringing aorund the Iron Kong to face its attackers before they could strike.

"Brush me off, will you?" Stephen called out. "Die, damn you!" The Iron Kong's shoulder launcher flipped open, the then missiles concealed within streaking airborne towards the two enemy Zoids. One of them saw what was happening, braking off and climbing away just as the missiles left the launcher.

The second one was not so lucky, the missiles flying straight at it. The pilot tried to pull away, but was too late. The weapons ploughed into his Zoid, ripping off armour from across its body and legs. The enemy machine rolled over, black smoke billowing out form its devastated flank. The Zoid plummeted downwards, then managed to right itself to a degree before crashing into the arena floor on its side. The Battle Cougar skidded along before eventually coming to a halt, clearly out of action.

"There!" Stephen called back. "And tell your boss that-"

He never got to finish what he was saying. The second Battle Cougar came around, opening up on the Iron Kong's side with all eight of its cannons. The weapons tore into the Zoid's already damaged chest, smashing through the armour and sending it reeling back. The Iron Kong staggered, then collpased flat onto its back. Looking over it, Neil could see that the machine was out of action; its chest was a gaping hole, thich black smoke bollowing out of it.

"Ah hell!" He called out. "Why did it have to come down to me!" He opened up the Gunsniper's throttle, the small Zoid sprinting towards the Battle Cougar as it climbed away. He again opened up with the twin vulcans, spraying shots at the Zoid as it climbed away. The Battle Cougar seemed to ignore him, climbing into the air above the arena.

Then came the moment Neil had been dreading. The enemy machine looped over, then dived towards him on an attack run. The enemy pilot didn't even bother with subtlety, instead diving straight at his Zoid form head on, hoping to overwhelm him with sheer firepower. Neil could understand how it would work, but it also gave him an opening; one that he intended to exploit.

The Battle Cougar dived in, screeching loudly as it opened fire with its collection of beam weapons. At the same time, Neil trigged the two rocket launchers on the Gunsiper's back, all sixteen missiles soaring into the air and heading straight for the other Zoid. The beams reached home first, slicing into the Gunsniper's legs and sending his machine crashing down onto the arena floor. Glancing over the status board, Neil could see that his Zoid was out of action, both its legs having been reduced to slagged wrecks.

But he could see something else; a Battle Cougar slowly spiralling downwards, its chest and forelegs a mess of torn metal from the impact of his rockets. He leaned back in the cockpit and smiled to himself. "Heh. Gotcha, sucker."

oOoOo

Gregor Berkut was far from pleased with how the battle was turning out. While three of the enemy Zoids were out of action, so were the other two members of his team. It was a far higher loss rate then he'd expected and, frankly, not one that he was happy with. Talented or not, the amateurs in the enemy team should have been taken out with far less effort, and certainly without knocking out two of his own team. The fact that the Zero had gone down without a fight didn't give him any satisfaction. There was nothing it could have done to his Zoids anyway, and defeating it was just a part of winning the battle.

Adding to his frustration was the enemy Redler. The Zoid was proving to be incredibly elusive, managing to avoid his very determined efforts to bring it down. The enemy pilot was rather good at twisting and evading his shots, as well as being very hard to track. And while they hadn't put up much of an offence so far, at the same time he figured that they should have been out of action long ago. It was amazing what they had achieved so far with just a pair of flexible boosters.

He could almost admire the enemy pilot. With a bit more experience - and a different Zoid - they could have a place in his team if they asked.

But that was for later. Right now he had a serious task at hand, and that was winning the match. He threw the Cougar into a tight turn, heading after the enemy Redler as it climbed away from him. Opening up the throttle, he closed in for the kill. For a moment, the Redler was within the centre of his sights, giving him the chance he needed. He squeezed the trigger, the twin pulse cannons in the Battle Cougar's wings spraying shots at the enemy Zoid.

Or at least, that was the plan.

The Redler twisted in the air, managing to roll out of the line of fire just before his shots struck home, then fired its own boosters, climbing away. Gregor grunted to himself as he pulled the Battle Cougar around a sharp turn, the g-forces pushing him back as he tried to keep up with the enemy Zoid. His Battle Cougar only barely managed to keep its nose pointed at the other machine, only the Grade-up cannons pointing at anything resembling the target.

The Battle Cougar's main guns had proven to be rather poor at tracking the Redler, being relatively slow firing heavy beams designed for use against ground targets or larger, less manoeuvrable opponents. Still, it was worth a try. One or two hits from the big guns should be enough to bring down the Redler anyway. Doing his best to sustain the turn, he opened fire on the enemy Zoid. The two drum-like generators on the base of the cannons crackled as they discharged, sending a pair of brilliant bolts at the Redler.

...which suddenly reversed its course, streaking out of his sights. The two beams tore straight past it, flying off into empty space. Swearing darkly to himself, he wheeled around the Battle Cougar, trying again to keep the Redler in his sights. The enemy pilot seemed to have anticipated his move, however, cutting across his path and dashing away, diving towards the arena floor. He pitched down after it, opening fire on the Redler as he went.

The enemy Zoid suddenly pitched up, twisting its boosters to suddenly power out of the dive and, more to the point, out of his line of fire. His blasts tore through the space where it had been, while the Zoid itself pulled up ands away from him. He angrily opened up the throttle, pulling the Battle Cougar up and after the Redler, trying to close down the distance. There was one last trump card he could employ, one thing the Redler couldn't hope to compete with.

The Battle Cougar's staggering arrya of weapons weren't its only asset in combat. Besides its guns, the Zoid was also equipped with razor-sharp claws, a fearsome beak and, most deadly of all, its massive Thunder and Lighting Strike Horn. Based on the weapon used by the long-extinct Orudios, it would be enough to impale the Redler and knock it pout of the sky. And with the Battle Cougar's faster speed and acceleration, chasing it down wouldn't be too hard. All he needed was a chance.

The Battle Cougar screeched as it climbed up, then dived at the Redler, its forward talons outstretched to strike. He rushed towards the Redler, the enemy pilot unaware of what was about to happen until the last possible moment. The Redler rolled away, the Battle Cougar's talons slashing across the trailing edge of one of its wings. Undeterred, Gregor bought up the Zoid, climbing towards his damaged enemy. And while he hadn't done much to it so far, he felt that now it was only a matter of time before he bought the enemy Zoid down.

He climbed up and opened up the engine again, heading towards the Redler for another strike. The enemy pilot seemed to have a better idea of what was going on, however, and managed to twist the Zoid just out of his way as he struck. Not wanting to let up, he crossed back, heading towards the Redler for another chance to strike. This time the enemy pilot opened up their boosters, the Redler just slipping out of his grasp for now.

The enemy Zoid again dived to build speed, then levelled out, heading away in a high speed dash. Gregor powered after it, the Battle Cougar's six engines wide open and going at full bore, pushing it forwards towards its prey. The Redler kept going, trying to get as much speed as it could out of a level run. Gregor didn't care; he just wanted to bring down the enemy Zoid as quickly as possible. He closed in, ready for the kill.

And then the enemy pilot did something that nothing could have prepared him for.

Twisting its boosters around, the Redler pitched its nose up without climbing. As he watched in surprise, the Zoid flipped over, bleeding off speed as it passed the vertical and flopped back into an inverted, backwards horizontal flight. The Battle cougar flew straight at it, the Redler's speed dropping as his own increased. He twisted the controls, desperate to get out of the way of the enemy pilot's insane plan.

And then the Redler's tailblade flicked out, slashing across the Battle Cougar's wing. There was a hideous metallic screech as it sliced through the outer wing, neatly separating it from the rest of the Zoid's body.

The two Zoids plummeted, the Redler form the sheer loss of speed, the Battle Cougar from shedding a wing. The enemy pilot managed better, firing their boosters as the Zoid changed directions, flying forwards and slowly upwards. Gregor, on the other hand, could see that his own machine was finished, the loss of its wing enough to knock it out of the skies.

"Perhaps I have misjudged them." He muttered to himself as he fought to regain control of his Zoid. He was out of the fight, but at least he would try to get as smooth a landing as he could.

oOoOo

Despite his earlier promise never to come back, Stephen had found himself again in the dingy bar. He'd gotten a phone call from Gregor, saying that he wanted to meet. Apparently, the outcome of their battle had somewhat changed his opinion of the Chairs and their ability to handle themselves.

He found himself sitting at the same table, again looking at the older pilot. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Stephen asked, remaining casual. He saw no reason to antagonise the man, especially not now.

"I was impressed with the way you and your team performed." he simply stated. "I may have misjudged you."

Stephen nodded. "So what do you have?"

"Several years ago, when NUBG was last active, several of us pilots formed what could be only described as a vigilante group." He explained. "We spent our time prowling around, keeping an eye on things and making sure that NUBG didn't try anything. We didn't go out looking for trouble but, at the same time, we did try to prevent them from trying anything."

"After a half season of attacks, NUBG abruptly stopped." He continued. "Something happened, I suspect behind the scenes, that caused them to give up attacking us. Our group was disbanded, and our members all pledged not to discuss what happened since, strictly speaking, it was illegal. We've had no real reason to re-form, even in the current situation. NUBG is not the menace it used to be."

"So what does this have to do with me?" Stephen asked.

"We do know more then a bit about NUBG." He continued. "Including some of its names." He put several pictures down on the table. "We don't know exactly who's active in NUBG these days, but these are the people I'd look out for."

He placed a picture of a quartet of Zoids down on the table. While it was blurry and in less then favorable light, Stephen easily recongised them; a Genobreaker, a Dark Spiner, a Liger Zero X and a Killer Dome. "This is the NUBG's top team." Gregor continued. "Their pilots are NUBG's best, and often acted as 'troubleshooters' in addition to regular competition and battle invasions."

"We've seen the X and the Spiner." Stephen commented as he examined the photo. "Not sure about the other two."

"Those two are apparently the boss's right hand men, a pair of guys called Shane and Julian." He continued. "They seem to mainly focus on taking out individuals, enforcing NUBG secrecy and the like. Both are skilled pilots and work well together."

"That would fit with what they were doing when we saw them." Stephen added. "What about the others?"

"The breaker is piloted by a man named Cole, supposedly their champion." Gregor explained. "He's a bit of a mystery. We think that something happened to him, as his Zoid hasn't appeared in any NUBG matches in years."

Stephen was going to ask how Gregor knew that, but decided not to. "And the Killer Dome?"

"No idea." He admitted. "We never found any clues as to the pilot's identity. Whoever they are, they're pretty capable both on their own and as a part of the Dark Spiner."

"I see." Stephen looked over it. "What else can you say?"

"Just this." He commented. "NUBG is a criminal organisation, yes, but in the end they're all about one thing: money. They don't do anything unless there's some financial reward. They don't go around burning down villages or killing people or anything like that. It makes no sense at all for them to do such. All they want to do is fight their way and to reap the benefits. Their pilots are not evil, merely greedy. Many of them you'll find are rather cowardly bullies; they're content to do whatever they want as long as things are going their way. However, the instant things look bad, they run."

"So then what do you suggest?"

"You make it as difficult for them as possible." He explained. "Do not provoke them, but, at the same time, do everything you can to fight them. When they see that they're loosing money, then they'll give up and move on, finding something else to occupy themselves."

oOoOo

Despite the fact that her Zoid had been disabled during the battle, Rose was quite happy with the outcome of the battle. The fact that the Broken Chairs had won was a pleasant surprise for her. She'd been feeling rather... apprehensive since Jill's unexpected appearance a few days ago, and winning a battle had put her in a much better mood. That and not seeing Jill again, of course.

She and Drake had gone out for a few drinks to celebrate the win. They'd gone to one of the popular pubs that Zoid Pilots frequented to unwind and have a good time. Rose had a hidden agenda, of course. Personally she was hoping that it would lead to a bit more.

"I've fought the Golden Eagles before." Drake began as he took a sip of his drink. "Well, I fought Gregor, their leader, in a singles battle. It was not easy." He commented. "I managed a win, but only just."

"Well, those Battle Cougars are tough." Rose commented. "I was totally screwed with my lack of anti-air."

"Don't worry about it." Drake shook his head. "Your Zoid was not designed to handle that sort of opponent. Very few modern Zoids are, actually. Remember, the Battle Cougar was built to fight Gungyarados and Gilvaders. No offence, but a Liger Zero is a little less of a threat then they would be."

"True, true." She put her hands up. "Well, wondergirl managed to save the day and that's what counts. I'm sure that she can explain to me exactly what she did, and I'm sure I won't understand a word of it."

Drake smiled at her. "You have a lot of confidence in your team, I noticed. That's a very good thing. You'll never get anywhere if you don't have confidence in them."

"Do you?" She asked.

"Morgan is a little rough around the edges, but he can be replied upon to hold up his end." Drake offered. "Both Miles and Krystal are very skilled pilots, two of the better ones I've ever worked with."

"Well I guess that's good then." She added.

"Excuse me... Drake?" A man began, walking over to the pair of them. He was tall and slim, with short-cut black hair and, to Rose's eyes, slightly effeminate features. He was dressed in a very clean very sharp suit, and looked rather out of place comapred to the other people in the bar.

"Elden?" Drake asked. "This is a surprise. I didn't expect to see you here, of all places."

"Well, no." He admitted. "I didn't think I would either, to be honest."

"Rose, this is Elden Vanderlinen. He's an old friend of mine, and one of my few friends outside the Zoid circuit." he added, jokingly. "Elden, this is Rose. She's another Zoid pilot."

"Pleased to met you." Rose began, a friendly smile on her face.

"Likewise." He rather dismissively replied. "Uh, Drake, I was wondering if we could talk." He glanced at Rose. "uh, in private."

Drake nodded. "Certainly. Rose, if you could excuse me for a few minutes. I haven't seen Elden in ages and, well..."

Rose nodded. "Not a prob." She began. "Go for it."

"Thank you, Rose." he replied.

The two of them walked over to a booth on the far side of the bar, out of her line of sight. Rose watched them for a minute, but soon lost them in the crowd. _I wonder what he's about? _She asked herself. _Now you're being paranoid. You'll be seeing NUBG assassins at every window next. _She finished her drink then sighed to herself as she waited for Drake to return. He didn't.

"Sod this for a lark." She muttered as she walked off to the women's room. Emerging a few minutes later, she spied Drake's long hair out of the corner of her eye, the man seated in a booth. She approached him, not wanting to intrude, but at the same time wanting to get a little closer to him.

"...basically, what I'm saying Drake is that I'm sorry about what I said." She heard Elden say.

"You were very against what I wanted back then. Why should things be any different now?" Drake stated, a surprisingly harsh tone in his voice. "You used me, Elden."

"I... I wasn't thinking." He admitted. "I didn't like what you were doping, but I never realised how you felt and that Zoids were, well, your life."

"I explained it all to you."

"And I was a fool not to listen." Elden finished. "I'm sorry, Drake. I didn't think."

_What the hell? _Rose asked herself. She moved a little closer, trying to get a better look at what was happening in the booth, while staying out of sight. She glanced around, seeing the pair of them sitting there, staring at each other.

"What I mean to say is..." Elden continued. "I made a mess of things, and I'm sorry. But... I want to know. Do you want to give things another chance?"

"Well..." Drake paused. "I was angry with you, Elden. But, at the same time, I can understand why you said what you did. Last time, we just had too many differences." He put his hands on the table and held Elden's. "This time, well, I think we can give it another chance. If you're going to be more accommodating, then it may just work out."

Elden nodded. "Thank you, Drake. This means a lot to me."

Drake smiled. 'Me too, Elden. Me too." he leaned closer to Elden. Rose's heart skipped a beat as she tried to figure out what was going on... and then realised. The two of them leaned towards each other and then kissed. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for Rose.

She turned her back and scrambled out of the bar, just wanting to be as far _away _as possible.

oOoOo

Duane Leighton glanced nervously over his shoulders as his Brachios galloped across the fields at high speed. He glanced at the rear monitors, checking for any sign of a pursuer. He didn't know if there was anyone after him, but if there was, he wanted to be as far away from them as possible.

He and his team, the Obsidian Demons, had been en-route to an NUBG training ground on the outskirts of the city. He'd been told that his performance in his most recent battles, despite his recent loss to the DA Lizards, had shown that he had 'unique talents' and that he had been earmarked for 'special training'. In fact, his whole team had such 'special talents'. So they'd been told to show up at the training grounds for some 'extra development'.

Because they were NUBG and, strictly speaking, what they were doing was illegal, the training grounds were in the woods that were a few hours south of the city. They were to go there at night in order to reduce the chances of anyone seeing them and being able to locate the training facility. He understood the need for secrecy. In fact, he found it kind of exciting. The thrill of doing something this illegal was more then enough to make up for the long trip. That and he wanted to know what his 'special talents' were.

They'd never made it. En-route, they'd been attacked by some assailant. While he'd initially thought that it was a part of the training, it became very clear that it wasn't. Now three members of his team were down, and he was running for his life.

His sensors beeped to warn him of something approaching him. Glancing back, he could see something approaching. He desperately activated the Brachios' rear cannon swinging it around to open fire on the incoming attacker. Without bothering to aim, he just opened fire, spraying shots at his enemy.

The cockpit was filled with the sound of the cannon firing, its discharges ringing around the enclosed space. He eased up on the trigger as it became obvious that he wasn't achieving anything. Then there was silence, save for the sound of the Brach's feet crunching across the landscape.

Suddenly, the whole Zoid lurched forwards as something crashed down onto its back, smashing into it. Red lights came on across the board as his Zoid crashed to the ground, system after system going offline. Duane was smashed into the console as he was thrown around the cockpit, then slammed back into the back of his chair. His head swam as he tried to regain control of his machine, but to no avail. The Brachios crashed to the ground, lying dead on its side.

For a moment, he sat in the cockpit, barely daring to breathe. He had no idea what the attacker wanted, but he figured that it was best for him to stay still and not do anything, lest he provoke them. For a short eternity, all was silent. Then the Brachios rocked as the attacker, whoever they were, leaped away from it.

After what he figured was a minute, Duane nervously popped open the hatch and glanced around. A quick inspection told him that his Zoid was out of action and that it might not even be repairable. Though he couldn't see the machines of his teammates, he suspected they were in the same shape.

"Wha..." He asked himself. "What happened?"

oOoOo

**Author's notes:**

The Golden Eagles team actually come from the earliest concepts of what would eventually become PMF and were the first team to be created. They predate the Broken Chairs by a surprising degree. Very little else from this period survives into the final story.

I'm sure that somebody will appreciate all the gaming references worked into this chapter.

For air combat geeks, Tasch pulled a (badly described) Cobra Maneuver. I suspect that trying such in a Redler would not be considered sane. How did she do it? Maybe a combination of the Flexible Boosters and the Redler's VTOL directional jets. Or whatever.


	11. Revenge Road

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Eleven - Revenge Road

By Rick R.

oOoOo

"Morning Rose." Neil cheerily chimed as his teammate walked into the team's kitchen. He was up bright and early on what promised to be a nice, shiny day, and was looking to have a good time of it. He was planning to meet Laura and Nadia together to have a brainstorming session over their game, and run through ideas. Even though Neil was 'just a player' like Laura, it turned out that Nadia really liked their style. Which wasn't too bad, actually.

He'd been spending some time going over artwork he could steal to use on Nadia's page. It had been a largely futile search; it was amazing how little stuff he could find that said 'male druid' to him. Most artwork of druids depicted improbably shaped women in clingy, semi-transparent robes lounging around with random improbably sorted animals. And while he wouldn't complain about it, it didn't do his character much good.

Rose muttered a reply, then walked straight past him. She looked very tired and angry, and a lot 'shabbier' then her usual self; her hair a mess and her eyes barely open. "I said, morning, Rose." He added, then paused. Still no response.

_Maybe she's had enough of willowy girls with swords and wolves too, _he jokingly thought to himself. He figured if he saw another one, he'd scream a little. Still, she shouldn't be that grumpy. Unless... He decided to pry a little. "How did the big date go last night?" He asked.

"Oh, shut up." She snapped, grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard.

"Ah." He began. Clearly, she had not had a good night. "So what happened? Was there a bunch of NUBG guys at the next table who decided to hijack your meal?"

"Oh for christ's sake. I'm sick of the damn NUBG and everyone mentioning them every second damn sentence." She turned around. "Why can't they go off and bother some other team like... like the damned Firestorm team, for example?"

"Heh. So you wouldn't mind seeing Drake smacked around a bit then?" He asked.

"Neil!" She snapped. "Just... just piss off, okay? It's no wonder you're so defiantly single. You can't even talk to people!"

"Hey, I'm not always like this." He commented. "I've had... a girlfriend." He smiled. "I'm near mint in box. Contents taken out of packaging, played with once and then sealed away for resale."

"Oh forget it."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Stephen began as he stormed into the room. "I can hear you two from the Zoid hanger."

"She stared it." Neil began.

"I did not!" Rose snapped.

"Well whatever it is, can't you two just stop shouting and act normal for once?" He began.

"Listen you!" She continued. "I want to know what exactly it is that makes you think that you're in charge here and can tell us what to do."

"What?"

"Oh come on!" She snarled. "You've been in charge, bossing us around since day one. It's not like we voted you leader or we were given any other choice. You just waltzed in and took over acting like you were the big man around here and we should all just do whatever you told us to."

"Well I haven't exactly heard too many complaints about it so far." Stephen replied. "And it's not like it's the easiest job in the world, what with some of us running off and blindly wandering into an illegal battle. Since then I've-"

"Don't you dare bring that up." Rose snarled. "Like I said, I had no idea of what was going on that day. So don't blame me for all our problems." She stormed out, stepping into the living room.

"Oh, hey there." Tasch began, seemingly oblivious to all the shouting inside. She was sitting at their counter with her laptop.

"What are you looking at?" Rose snapped.

"An e-mail form the ZBC." She spoke up. "They want us to come in for a meeting today."

"They what?" Stepehn asked as he stepped into the room. "Where? What's all this about?"

"Well, it's in the big ZBC headquarters in town." She replied. "And they didn't say what it was about, but they said it was important and that it'd be a good idea for us to be there."

"Well that was unexpected." Neil spoke up. "Now I'm really interested."

"Yeah." Tasch spoke up. "Me too... I gotta know what's going on." She paused. "Hey, is that an old-type Guylos logo?"

"A what where?" Neil asked.

"The old Guylos empire symbol." She spoke up. "The black dragon on the green triangle shield. They say it's meant to be Gilvader, but then... it'd be a Wyvern on the shield."

Rose was trying to figure what Tasch was saying. Then it struck her. She'd been wearing those thong briefs with the Guylos logo on the front last night... and had ended up going to bed fully dressed. So if it was visible, even a bit, at the front then the back...

"I'll be ready in a second!" She squealed out as she pulled up her pants as far as they could go, then darted from the room, all anger long gone.

"What in the heck was that about?" Tasch asked.

"I think Rose's date went bad last night." Neil commented. "And I suspect that it was not due to a wardrobe malfunction."

"Yeah." Tasch commented. "I mean, even if the door got stuck, I don't think that'd ruin things." She nodded. "Unless... unless you'd put something inside it, then couldn't get it out."

"You're amazing." Neil smirked. "Don't you ever change."

"Well, I wouldn't if the wardrobe's door was stuck." She finished. "'cause then, what would I wear?"

oOoOo

After arriving at the ZBC headquarters, the Broken Chairs found that their meeting was being held in the same room that they'd been in when they were last there. While this had lead to some comments that this may have been another special match, when they entered the room it became clear that it was anything but.

There were two people in the room; they all could recognise one of them as Elisa Claybourne, the woman who had been behind the city arena. The second man was less obvious; he was a large, muscular man with short-cropped brown hair and brown eyes. Most notably, however, he was dressed in a PKB uniform.

"Thank you all for coming here, especially at such short notice." Elisa began. "If you could all please be seated, we'll begin."

"If this is about all those parking tickets, there's a reason." Neil spoke up as he sat down. "Really." He glanced around, but got no reaction. "Tough crowd." He muttered.

"This is Commander Mal Loup, citywide chief of the Peacekeeping Bureau." She continued, indicating to the man standing next to her. "Mal has asked for the help of both you and the ZBC with regards to a particular matter."

"It's the NUBG, isn't it?" Rose asked.

Elisa nodded. "Mal, if you could, please."

Mal stepped forwards. "I'm going to be blunt and to the point." he began. "The PKB have become somewhat tired of this whole situation between the ZBC and the NUBG, and your team in particular. The last thing we want is a group of criminals running around in Zoids, out and attacking members of the legitimate Zoid using community. At the same time, we understand that your team are the victims in all this, and want to do what we can to help you out."

"It's about time." Stephen commented. "No offence, but we were beginning to feel like we were all on our own."

"You must understand, Mr Chesterton, that the ZBC's forces are limited by law to security only." Elisa spoke up. "Normally in the advent of an NUBG attack, we need to contact the PKB for assistance."

"Likewise, the PKB's forces are nominally for defensive and law-enforcement use only." Mal continued. "However, in this case, we feel that something needs to be done about the NUBG."

"So what is it that you're thinking of?" Stephen asked.

"And am I the only one who is worried why we're being invited to this?" Neil added. "I mean, really, worried?"

"Shh." Rose replied, elbowing him. "I, for one, just want this mess to be over."

"I understand your apprehension." Mal continued. "What you must understand is that we normally wouldn't do this. However, the fact that the NUBG has continued to target the ZBC and, more specifically, your team, means that we have to do something about it. And that's why we need your team."

"At the start of next round, your team will take part in a battle outside the city." Elisa spoke up. "Specifically, in an area where the NUBG used to launch battle invasions during their first attempt at attacking the ZBC several years ago. Based on the way they normally act, we belive that the NUBG will again attempt to go after your team."

"This will give us a chance to act." Mal spoke up. "The area will be crawling with PKB Zoids and officers, all ready to deal with any possible NUBG incursion. So when they move to take out your team, we will be ready for them. The PKB will move in and disable the NUBG attackers. Not only will this send a message to the NUBG that we're not willing to sit back and let them do whatever they want, but hopefully any prisoners we get from such a battle will be able to provide us with information on the inner workings of the organisation. With some luck, this operation could not just serve to stop them from their attacks on you, but could be enough to knock them out of action once and for all."

"This is why we've come to you." Mal continued. "Your team are the ones they've been after since this whole mess started. Putting it bluntly, we want you to be the bait for the NUBG, the ones that get their attention. With the way they think, we feel that they wouldn't be able to pass up another opportunity to get at you guys. I know it sounds like a crappy job but, well, it may be our best chance to stop them."

"The ZBC and the PKB do not want to force you into this battle." Elisa continued. "We're asking for your cooperation, not demanding it. In the end, it's your choice as to whether you want to take part in this. You will be rewarded for your actions; the ZBC will pay you the equivalent of your full prize money for a battle, with each of you receiving individual bonuses as if you had all survived the outcome. In essence, you'd be getting a four-nil victory payout."

"Well, guys, what do you think?" Stephen began as he glanced over the other members of his team. "I'm not going to force anyone into this. I want to know how you all feel." He would have been the first to admit that he was a little apprehensive. This almost sounded like the sort of escalation that Gregor warned him about. At the same time, it was a chance to stop the NUBG from ever trying to attack them again. "I'll admit that I prefer the more active approach, but if any of you have issues..."

"Well, I think it's a good thing." Tasch spoke up, having been strangely quiet all meeting. "'cause, they're criminals, and we shouldn't let criminals get away with doin' bad stuff. 'cause if we do, then, well, that's bad too. So I say we stop 'em."

"Huh." Neil commented. "We could be like our own cop show. We stage an undercover sting, set up the badguys, have a few explosions and walk away with a cool freeze frame on the closing credits. Of couse, the question is if we're going to be the dashing leads or their stunt doubles."

"You wouldn't want to do that." Tasch added. "'cause then you'd have to spend all yer time making sure that yer face didn't get on camera."

"I have to agree with Tasch." Rose spoke up. "As strange as it sounds."

"Sou you mean you don't wanna be a stuntman either?" She asked.

"Er... no." Rose continued, shaking her head. "What I mean is that the NUBG have been making our lives a misery for far, far too long. I know that I'm responsible for all that's happened to us so far; I was the one who walked into that arena without thinking what I was doing. At the very least, I want to help fix some of that mistake. And, frankly, I wouldn't mind a chance to beat up on NUBG, rather then it being the other way around like it always is."

"Rose, nobody blames you for what you did." Neil commented. "I probably would have been suckered by her as well. Hell, given that it was that whatsherface from the Black Hands, I would have been going 'uuhh, boobies, sure anything you say' all night and not even noticed till I was NUBG champion or something." He smiled at her. "Hell, by running out on her, you were a lot braver then a lot of people would have been."

"So the question is, Neil, how do you feel about it?" Stephen asked. "I'm not willing to go unless we all agree to do this. I don't want to drag anyone in unwillingly."

"Well..." He shrugged. "Ah hell, why ever not? I get to save the world from the NUBG and be the hero of my own cop show. That's cool with me."

"Yeah but..." Tasch spoke up. "What kinda cop show are we? Are we an action-adventure one with lots of car chases and shoot-outs, or are we an investigative cop show where we have to think it all through and then find the clues and confront the bad guy, or are we a kinda drama series that's set in a police station and we chase crooks and have personal problems?"

Rose sat there for a moment, as if she was trying to think of a comeback to Tasch. Neil cut in instead. "...don't you love it when she does that?" He asked.

"Does what?" Tasch asked.

Neil turned back to Stephen. "That's a yes, then."

Stephen nodded, then turned back to Mal and Elisa. "We'll do it." He simply stated. "We all want this to be over, and I think its best that we end this on our terms, not theirs."

Elisa nodded. "Thank you very much, all of you."

"Right." Mal added. "We'll get you the details when we finalise them, but I know you'll all want to get yourselves as ready as you can." He looked over the team. "Because this weekend's battle is going to be a big one."

**oOoOo**

Ron McGonnagle sat down on the park bench, obstinately not looking at the man sitting next to him. It wasn't a hard act to try; Heywood seemed to have reached a new level of awfulness in his appearance. He was slouching on the bench, several food stains decorating his shirt.

"Nice day." He began, casually.

"It stinks." Heywood muttered out in reply. "I'd rather be anywhere but here."

_The feeling is mutual, you foul slob, _Ron thought. He'd begun to realise that as much as he liked working for the NUBG, as much as he liked the illegal battles and as much as he liked the considerable cash kickbacks he was receiving for his work, he actually despised Heywood himself. Of course, it was a good idea not to say that if he wanted his flow of 'donations' to continue. "Well, I can think of a lot worse places to be."

Heywood grunted before speaking up. "So what's up, Ron?"

"The ZBC have changed their attitude towards our lot." Ron explained. "They've reached the conclusion that you guys are now a threat to both their own safety and the lives of their pilots. In short, they want to do something about you, make some move towards shutting you down."

"So what are they gonna do about it?"

"In short, they're trying to trap you and use that particular team you've been gunning for as the bait." Ron explained. "The idea being that they use them to lure your guys out then the PKB jumps on 'em and brings 'em down."

"Devious bastards." Michael replied, rubbing his chin. Ron was sure he could see bits of food stick in his beard. "So if we tried to attack, we'd end up facing two groups instead of one, huh? Got the details on their next battle?"

"Sure." Ron placed a small envelope on the bench, and slid it towards Heywood, who took it. "Everything's in there."

"Right." He sat back. "It's good to know that we're that notorious. We could use it as an angle for our next line of promotions. 'The PKB tried to stop us... now see the fights they didn't want you to know about!' We'd make a killing."

"Probably." Ron continued. "Its just a pity you don't have that 'breaker around anymore. You could use it to take out the whole team in one go. Just fly over 'em and vape 'em with the particle cannon... Wouldn't be much of a match though."

Heywood glared at him. "You do know that a Genobreaker can't fire its cannon while in flight, right?"

"Yeah, well..." Ron replied, caught out. He had been sure that they could. "Anyway, I was just saying."

"Speaking of the Breaker..." Heywood continued. "One of your pilots has been having a go at one of ours. We had a whole team wiped out by some guy the other day. Four Zoids were trashed and two pilots wound up in one of our back-room clinics. Now this sorta thing isn't good for business, Ron. I want you to put a stop to it."

"I would if I could." He replied. "The last thing I want is someone complicating matters, and a vigilante running around ripping into your Zoids is a severe complication indeed. Thing is, I have no idea who it is, so I couldn't stop them if I wanted to. And unless you want to take it to the PKB, which I doubt, I can't really go around ordering people to tell me where they were on that night. As far as the ZBC and the PKB are concerned, that attack never happened. Hell, I only know about it because you told me."

"Right." Heywood muttered. "But do me one favour, Ron? If you hear something, let me know. The last thing I want is some maniac running around making my life hell."

"Me too, Michael. Me too."

oOoOo

In preparation for their battle (and the PKB operation), Tasch and Stephen had been going over their Zoids to make sure that everything was in peak working condition. Looking over things, they'd found that there were a fair few parts that were either becoming worn or in need of replacement. Neil's Gunsniper in particular seemed to be little more then a mess of second hand parts and leftovers that had been slapped together into a workable Zoid. Stephen had commented that he wouldn't be surprised if at least one of its limbs hadn't come from a different machine altogether.

Armed with a shopping list of components, Tasch had gone out to pick up some replacements for numerous small but vital items. Form her point of view as an experienced mechanic, she knew that many people often overlooked the little, simple things that made a Zoid tick. She could remember one Zabat that she'd had to work on after it did a belly flop emergency landing after loosing power; the fault was traced to a single power board that should have been replaced ages ago.

Because ZBC pilots didn't have to stick to strict military schedules, they often would up overlooking a lot of things until they were absolutely necessary or, more often, too late. She'd actually been working on a plan to overcome this by figuring a regular maintenance cycle for the team. But for now, she was just shopping for parts.

While she was looking over power couplings, she was distracted by a loud clattering noise from nearby, punctuated by some muttered swearing. Something nudged against her foot; looking down she could see that it was a cylindrical power regulator. She knelt down, picking it up and looking over it. While she couldn't recognise the exact model, she knew the design. It was similar to, but a lot larger then, the ones used in the legs of Rose's Liger Zero.

"Must be a specialty order" She commented to herself. "Probably not much that uses this."

"Aha!" A voice came from nearby. "There you are." Tasch stood, seeing another woman approaching. She was taller then Tasch, and far more heavily built; somewhat along Stephen's lines. She had short cut black hair which partially covered her striking violet eyes. She was dressed in a sleeveless purple halter top and matching pants, and was carrying several other parts. "I dropped it and it rolled off. Thanks for that."

"It's cool." Tasch began as she handed over the converter to the woman. "Hey, yer from Nyx too."

"I what?" The woman asked. "Oh yeah." she grinned, then indicated to her eyes. "You got me there."

"Yeah. I just noticed that." She added. "I only noticed 'cause, well, you don't see too many other Nyxians 'round here. So yer eyes kinda stood out. Its weird, 'cause at home they'd be normal. But here, everyone's got really weird eye colours, so yours look abnormal, y'know?"

"I know how it goes." She continued as she stuffed a couple of parts into her basket. "Too many people just look at my eyes, like they're weird or something. I guess we just stand out." She shrugged. "But then, that can be useful."

"How so?"

"Well..." She began, not quite looking at Tasch. "Its helpful if you're looking for another Nyxain. Helps them stand out a bit."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." She continued, still looking at a point a few inches right of Tasch's head. "Actually, I've been looking around for this one old friend of mine. I know he lives here but... well, I haven't seen him in ages." She continued. "You might no him, actually, what with him being another Nyxian and there being so few of us about here."

"Don't think so." Tasch commented. "What's he like?"

"His name's Jean." She continued. "Tall guy, rail thin, wears snappy suits. He's got those firey orange eyes that all the cool people seem to have."

"Naw, I ain't seen him." Tasch shook her head. "In fact, yer the only other one I've seen since I've been here."

"Ah well, it was worth a try." The other woman shrugged. "Thanks anyway."

"Ah, its fine." Tasch finished.

The woman nodded. "Yeah. And good luck too, okay?" She finished as she turned and walked off.

"Well she was nice." Tasch commented to herself. So many people seemed to think that Nyxians were weird; not just their eye colours, but because they supposedly acted strange. However, Tasch hadn't been able to see anything any more strange about herself then any other person around. Then, shrugging to herself, she went back to browsing parts.

oOoOo

"Hey Rach." Heywood began as he walked into his office, a cigar in hand. "Hear the news?"

"What news?" She asked, looking up from the row of financial figures on the screen.

"Its great." He continued, grinning broadly. "We're now considered to be notorious."

"I though we already were, sir." She calmly replied, not sure if she liked where he was going with this."

"More so." He continued. "Get this, the PKB are trying to set up a sting to force us out of hiding. They're gonna use that team we've been after to lure us out, then move in and try to bag one of our teams. I guess the premise is that if some of our men get locked up then we'd loose interest."

"So we're going to go easy on the ZBC team then?"

"Go easy?" He snorted loudly. "Hell no, Rach. I'm going to go after them." He stuck his cigar in his mouth and, much to her annoyance, lit it.

"I don't understand, sir. Surely that's what they want you to do."

"Rach, it's a crying shame that someone as hot as you could also be so incredibly dull." He replied with a sigh. "You probably find that screen full of figures exciting."

That was true, she would admit. But then, it was probably not for the reasons he thought it was. She was far more interested in where the money was coming from.

"You see, Rach, it's an angle." He continued, not waiting for her to respond. "Think about it. The NUBG's brave pilots manage to outwit both the PKB and the ZBC and evade their carefully laid trap. Then, once they have their chance, they need to finish off the enemy team before the PKB can send reinforcements. Its exciting, edge of the seat stuff and I know for a fact that our audience will pay through the nose to see it. The odds will go through the roof when they learn that the PKB is involved... the amount we'll make off the betting alone will be incredible."

"I see sir." She replied. "I suppose so."

"And it won't stop there." He continued. "If we pull this off, then the PKB will be trying harder to get us. We'll become even more illegal and dangerous in the eyes of the public, which in turn will make us seem more attractive. The public loves criminals, Rach. They love the thrill of the forbidden, the chance to do or see something that they shouldn't, something that Johnny Law won't allow them. And we can provide that option, Rach."

"So by eluding the PKB, we become more attractive to our clientele." She continued. "I think i see the reasoning."

"Good on ya, Rach. There may be hope for you yet." He grinned.

She considered things for a moment before she continued. "This will be a lot more difficult then a usual battle, sir." She spoke up. "I was wondering if you had a team in mind."

"Hmm..." He considered matters. "Less a team, more of a few individuals who have done me well in past, as well as a special little project or two. Yeah, I think that would work well." He looked around the room. "Rach, I think that its time that our little guest earned her keep. Despite what she did to this organisation, she may yet be useful to us still."

Rachel knew who he was talking about, and began to follow his reasoning. With the way her mind worked, she'd be very much willing to take part in this battle. In fact, she'd probably leap at the opportunity to avenge herself on a perceived slight. In fact, Rachel knew just what she needed to say to get her attention. "Do you want me to go and get her, sir?" She spoke up.

"Yeah, you do that, Rach." He replied. "Get her cleaned up too, and get her into my personal lounge, 'kay?" He grinned as he continued to chomp on his cigar. "This is going to be good, Rach. This is going to be real good."

"Yes, sir." She replied as she stood up. Stepping out of the office, she descended several flights of stairs down to the lowest depths of the NUBG facilities. Down here was the guts of the arena; all the machinery that was needed to keep it running. It was also where then NUBG's dirtiest secrets were kept. Some of them were known only to the group's leader and his 'inner circle' of top warriors. And, of course, his assistant who did a lot of the day to day work in running the organisation.

She headed down one hallway which stood out from the others by the presence of an armed guard. He was clad in the NUBG's unofficial security uniform; a supposedly menacing set of black fatigues with a silver trim, the NUBG logo on the shoulders. He carried a gun over his shoulder, and looked surprisingly alert for a low-paid goon with very little to do. _Maybe these men are better then I thought. Or maybe he saw me coming. _

"I'm here for the prisoner." She began as she walked towards him. "Heywood's orders." She added. She didn't need to say the latter; theoretically she would only be here if he'd ordered her to come down.

"Yes, sir." He replied. "I'll lead on."

"Thank you." She casually added. The pair of them walked through a particularly dark and dank hallway where every second light seemed to be flickering or off. The doors were a lot heavier then the others around the rest of the facility's; being metal instead of wood, with viewing silts at eye level. The NUBG normally didn't have much need for prisons; most of its pilots were criminals in and of themselves. However, every now and then, somebody did break one of their unwritten rules. When such a thing happened, they needed to be dealt with. This was the place for them.

_Or for those who are too stupid to consider the consequences of their actions. _She thought to herself as they stopped in front of a cell. She slid open the slit, looking inside. Sitting on the tiny cell's bed was a young woman, her features partially hidden by the darkness inside the cell.

"What do you want?" the young woman snapped.

"I want to give you a chance." Rachel replied. "You have an opportunity to get your revenge on the honourless woman who betrayed your trust. You have the opportunity to prove your true capabilities as a warrior by defeating her - and her team - in combat. You can do this for the NUBG, or you can remain in your cell. It's your choice."

There was a pause, and then the girl spoke, her angry blue-green eyes glaring straight at Rachel. "Let me." She began. "I want to prove just what I can do."

Rachel smiled to herself. She knew that wording it like that would work.

oOoOo

After several days of hard work, everything was as ready as it could be for the forthcoming battle. The members of the Broken Chairs had been over their Zoids, checking and re-checking that everything was in perfect running condition. Tasch and Stephen had spent innumerable hours working on anything they found, no matter how minor it was, in order to make sure that nothing could go wrong. They'd planned for battling the team they were scheduled to fight, any of the NUBG teams they'd fought in past and several hypothetical situations that Stephen had devised. (He hadn't said where he'd gotten his force compositions from, but he'd based them on info that Gregor had given him.) Finally, they'd logged a number of simulator hours with PKB officers while attending several briefings, just to make sure that they and their allies were ready to work together under fire.

The result was that, by the night before the battle, they were all exhausted. But, at the same time, they were also as ready as they ever would be.

They four of them were sitting in their living room, pretty much slumped in their chairs. Only Tasch seemed to be alert, quietly tapping away on her computer as normal. "An' that looks like everything." She suddenly spoke up, announcing, well, whatever it was, to the entire room.

"What's up?" Rose asked.

"Jus' goin over the plan for tomorrow, that's all." She finished.

"So how are we looking?" Neil asked.

Tasch handed the computer to Stephen. "Pretty good, actually." he commented, looking over the screen. "We'll follow the usual plan for the Gustavs; Tasch and I will drive, while Neil and Rose will be in their Zoids. Neil, I want you to keep an eye on your radar, just in case anything happens."

"Sure thing" he commented as he stood, walking into the kitchen.

"So what's the deal with the PKB?" Rose asked.

"They'll be in the area." Stephen continued. "They won't be immediately with us, but rather following at a distance. The idea is that they will keep their eyes open for any activity and act on it. There will also be troops in position at the battlefield.:"

"Wow." Neil added as he returned, putting a bowl of chips down on the table. "Sounds like we're really well loved today."

"Well, I guess they jus' don't want NUBG runnin' around and messin' up all the battles." Tasch spoke up. "I mean, people runnin' around illegally usin' Zoids ain't something you want. I don't know about here, but back home its very much against the law, an' it's heavily dealt with."

"Hey, don't they have Zoid battles on Nyx too?" Rose asked. "I, uh, heard about them from someone once."

"Yeah, they do." Tasch replied, looking up from her screen. "Though they ain't as big or as involved as what we have here."

"So is there anything like NUBG there?" She continued. "You know, a group that runs their own illegal battles with their own rules and tries to attack the legitimate pilots?"

"I don't think so." Tasch shook her head. "I can't say I've ever heard of one."

"So, um, what'd happen to an NUBG guy if he got caught on Nyx?" She asked. "Like, if he's been doing NUBG-ish stuff there."

"Hmm..." Tasch thought about it. "Well, if he's illegally pilotin' a Zoid, that's so much... an' I guess its like, well, assault or destruction of property, since its an illegal battle... an' being a member of a banned or subversive organisation." She continued thinking about it. "Probably lifetime imprisonment with no parole for a first offence." She nodded. "Death penalty for a second one."

"Like she said, no NUBG on Nyx." Neil added as he grabbed a handful of chips..

"...really." Rose finished, somewhat surprised sounding.

"Sometimes it sounds like they've got the right idea." Stephen muttered. "I figure that we'd have a lot less of those NUBG clowns running around, making our lives a misery, if more could be done about them."

"So what would you suggest?" Neil asked, a pile of chips in his hand. "That the PKB should be allowed to stomp around town and poke random bystander people to see who's side they're on?"

"I'm not saying that." He replied, a touch angry. "All I'm saying is that they need to do more about the NUBG."

"I guess the thing is that NUBG mainly keeps to itself and doesn't bother other people." Neil commented between chips. "It's just that they're being particularly annoying right now."

"More like particularly stupid." Rose added. "Smarter people would have given up by now."

"What is it with you and this whole 'NUBG is full of rockheads' thing anyway?" He continued.

Rose shrugged. "Most of it is stuff that I heard from Violet and... other people." She shrugged. "It's not like the ones we've met have been exactly awing me with their stunning intellects. Especially that... that stupid girl in the Genosaurer. I mean, what did she think was going to happen? That I would walk out of there and stay quiet and pretend that nothing had happened?"

"Well, perhaps she thought that you'd be nice to her." Tasch spoke up. "You did make a promise to her."

"Desperation." Rose shrugged. "I wasn't going to go head-to-head with a Genosaurer, especially not in an illegal arena. And she should have known what would have happened if she let me go free unharmed." She took a couple of chips. "Like I said, stupid."

"So what, you'd rather she'd blasted you on the spot?" Neil asked.

"Well, it would been the smart thing to do." Tasch spoke up. "'cause that way, there'd be no chance of you escapin' and, say, desotryin' the doomsday bomb before it could be activated. Which you'd only know about 'cause they'd told you rather then killin' ya on the spot."

Rose tried to figure out what Tasch had said. It didn't work.

"Look, we can go over the hypothetical and the what ifs later." Stephen spoke up. "Right now, we need to get ready for tomorrow. And I, for one, think that we should be getting some sleep."

"So let's get a good night's rest, then." Neil finished. "We gotta be up nice and early to put our heads on the chopping block."

oOoOo

"I heard..." CJ Tan began. "I hard that there's someone in a powerful Zoid has been going around, killing off NUBG members."

Brock Hartford rolled his eyes as he sat in the reception area. He'd been called here by Michael Heywood himself, the leader of the NUBG for some special meeting. He was surprised at this; he was only one of the newest members of the NUBG, being only recruited a few months ago., True, he'd done well, since then but...

He glanced around at the quartet of pilots waiting with him. Two of them looked barely old enough to shave; CJ, a kid with spikey hair that sported several coloured highlights and way too much jewellery, and Butch, one of the most erroneously named men he'd ever met. Butch was tall and rail thin, with spiked hair and an earring that spoke of vain attempts to look cool. He had quietly wondered if CJ and Butch were a couple. They looked it.

"I heard that they attacked the Obsidian Demons and killed two of the pilots." He continued, glancing around. "One Zoid ripped four apart, man." He glanced around. "And you know how Shane and Julian were off for a while? That's because they only barely survived being attacked by it."

"Stop being a dick, CJ." Gavin Fort spoke up. The oldest and second biggest of them, Brock could buy that he actually was an illegal Zoid battle pilot and not some kid out for yucks. "If this guy had been killing off NUBG pilots, then where are the casualties? It's not like there's dozens dead." He had a shaved head, pointy beard and ears that stuck out too much, but at least his battered jacket and jeans looked authentic. CJ and Butch looked like their clothes had been ripped when they got them off the rack.

"Yeah, well... what about Jean?" Bruno Wallace, his right hand man began. "He out and vanished, and they found his Zoid... and it had been ripped apart. I think that whoever it was, they got him." Bruno was a large, imposing man with a scarred face, brutish features and short brown hair. Right now, however, he was failing to live up to his looks. "First he bumps off one of us, then a team... what's next?"

"Will you bloody well shut up, Bruno?" Gavin continued. "There is not some deranged killer out to get you. You've been shaking like a small girl."

"You know what?" Butch spoke up. "I heard that one of these ZBC pilots that NUBG has been after is called Stroemer... like... that guy who piloted the Gilvader in the old war." He paused, as if he was awaiting the response. "What if... what if they're related? What if she's using his Zoid to take us out?"

"Oh for Christ's sake, Butch." Gavin snapped. "If it was a bloody Gilvader, then we'd all be bloody well dead by now. He wouldn't bother knocking out one team or one man, he'd just bloody well take out all of us in one swoop. So stop going on about it. And if there was someone out to get NUBG, then they'd hardly bloody well bother going after a bunch of inbred cretins like you miserable lot."

Brock shook his head, quietly wondering who the hell these guys were and, more to the point, what they were doing here. He hoped that he'd have an explanation sometime soon.

The door to the office opened, which made him perk up. He hoped that whoever this was, they'd provide some answers to his query. Instead, a large woman stepped into the room, seating herself next to him without saying a word. Almost as big as he was, she was heavily muscled, and sported numerous scars across her arms and face. Her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, while her hair was cropped short and coloured fiery red. She was dressed in an ugly red scale-pattern shirt and leather pants.

_Stuck between a butch dyke and the queerest men in town. Great. _He checked the woman again, and then realised who she was. Sheila Devlin, another NUBG pilot and, if the rumours were true, some sort of streetfighter turned 'enforcer' for the NUBG. Now he was really interested as to what was going on.

After a few more minutes, the inner door opened, Michael Heywood stepping in. "Right." He began. "Now that you're almost all here, we'll begin. Come on in and take a seat."

Not needing to be told twice, Brock stood and entered the room. He found himself in a large lounge, one dominated by a massive flat-screen display. There were several comfortable couches around the room, one of which was occupied by a pair of men with a third standing behind them. He realised who they were, recognising two of them from his first night with NUBG. _Shane Adams, Julian Hatchett and Cole McGuire. Those are three of the biggest names in the organisation. What the hell is going on here?_

"Gentlemen, lady..." Heywood began. "Please, take a seat." Brock sat on one of the couches, Sheila silently settling in on the same couch, albeit at the other end. The four others took places on various couches, while Heywood stood at the front of the room. "You may be wondering why I've called you here today." He began. "The reason is simple. There's a problem with NUBG. A problem that only you can resolve for us."

"Several months ago, a ZBC Zoid warrior got into one of our arenas. She then managed to escape, and ratted on us to the ZBC" He continued. Brock instantly knew what he was talking about; he had been there that night. He'd thought that he was going to be killed for sure; instead, he'd wound up being allowed to join and participate in the NUBG.

"Since then, gentlemen, we've been at war. We've been going up against this team, wanting to show them and the whole ZBC, that nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with the NUBG. We've done well so far; we've made a fortune off these battles, and those benefits have flowed down to the brave warriors who have been at the frontlines."

"So now it's your turn. I have gathered you all here today so that you can also have the chance to take part in this and reap the benefits. Each one of you has a reason why you're here, something that you can bring to this battle." He started with the group of pilots. "Gavin Fort. You and your men have worked together as a team, developing the ultimate in coordination, teamwork and tactics to fight as a unit. Your skills and your Zoids are a vital part of this victory."

"Sheila Devlin. You have been a long time, faithful member of the NUBG since our earliest days. You also possess a certain brutal, relentless style that very few opponents are ready for. I want you to turn that brutality towards our enemies, and deliver unto them your particular brand of pain." Sheila didn't react at all, remaining impassive throughout.

"And, as for you, Brock Hartford..." Heywood beamed. "Since you joined us, you've tracked up an impressive string of victories. You've defeated every challenge that has been thrown at you and managed to become one of the NUBG's rising stars. And even though you only joined us very recently, and under very controversial circumstances at that, you've proven that you have a place mongst NUBG's best, its most elite warriors."

This took Brock by surprise. He had no idea that he'd done so well in the NUBG. While he knew that he'd achieved some degree of success in the last few months, this was well beyond what he'd expected. He glanced around at the group of NUBG 'big names' seated nearby, amazed that he would be counted amongst their ranks. He was also now strangely curious as to what exactly Heywood had planned.

"You will be a part of a new, special team, one that will strike at our enemies and show them that NUBG will not be opposed. You will face the ZBC and defeat their top team, proving your own skills and the superiority of the NUBG's style of battle." He smiled. "For you, the brave men who faced the ZBC head on, there will be honour and glory... not to mention a huge cash bonus."

This got a round of laughs from some of the other pilots. Brock, however, remained impassive for the time being, as did Sheila. "So, as soon as the last member of your team arrives, we'll go over what we're going to do."

_Last member? _Brock looked around, somewhat surprised. He wanted to know who this person was, and what was their role in all this.

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. "That will be them now." Heywood began. "You may enter."

The door opened to reveal a pair of figures. Brock immediately noted and recognised the first of them, completely ignoring the other one. She was short, but generously shaped, with long platinum blonde hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a skin-tight, revelling outfit, that showed off her figure.

"Allow me to introduce former NUBG Underground Champion, one-time ZBC top contender and the last member of your team, Ariel Mychelle." Heywood continued as the woman silently walked into the room, then sat down next to him.

_Its her! _He thought. Ariel had been the girl who had lead him here and gotten him into the NUBG. She had also been the root cause of all that had happened since then; she'd allowed that other ZBC pilot to leave unharmed with an empty promise of silence. _What is going on here? And what is Heywood planning? _A look at the NUBG leader's face revealed nothing beyond a broad grin. All of a sudden, he didn't know if he should be enthusiastic, or worried.

oOoOo

The Broken Chairs' two rented Gustavs trundled through the desert, weaving a path between the rocky outcroppings that dominated the area. The desert west of the city had played host to several of their battles thus far, including one with the NUBG. Hopefully, today's would be the last of them.

Despite the fact that it was a desert, the skies overhead were grey with a storm slowly rolling in. It wasn't raining yet, but it was obvious that it would be just a matter of time before the heavens opened up. This only seemed to add to the already tense atmosphere between the team members.

"How far is it?" Neil asked from the cockpit of his Gunsniper, which was sitting on one of the trailers. "Its not that I'm having an attack of the 'are we there yets', mind you. I just want to know when we can expect to get shot at."

"The plan is for us to get to the battlefield early, then be attacked there, Neil." Stephen replied from the cockpit of the lead Gustav. "We went over this in the briefing."

"I know, I know." Neil replied. "I just don't like waiting."

"So you'd rather have them shooting at us?" Rose asked, riding in the cockpit of her Zoid. "I'm sure they can arrange that.

"Ah... that's not what I mean." he replied. "Its just the tension, that's all."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Stephen admitted. "Right now, I want to pound something flat myself. But that isn't gonna happen until the designated time. So, for now, everybody relax and try to stay focused, okay?"

"Yeah." Tasch replied. "We got to make sure that we're ready to get ambushed. We want to be ambushed at the right time and right place, an' be ready for it. We don't wanna show up at the ambush unprepared fer it."

"...do you know how that sounded?" Rose asked.

"Like… I said it?" Tasch replied.

"...about that." Rose finished, shaking her head.

"Okay everyone, just keep calm." Stephen continued. "Let's just stay focused and stop talking about the hypotheticals. It will happen when it happens, and not before. Hell, we don't even know if they will show up."

"Of course they will." Rose commented. "We're out here in a perfect situation for them to ambush us. They're too dumb to think otherwise."

"Geez, you're being charitable." Neil butted in. "You're pretty convinced that NUBG are all a bunch of inbred schmucks, aren't you?"

"Give me reason to think otherwise." She replied with a grin. "You've got to admit, they haven't struck us as the sharpest tools in the shed thus far."

"I dunno..." He continued. "The first team that ambushed us were pretty good. We got lucky against them, Really."

"And' that Lord Gale was plenty sharp too." Tasch continued. "Especially his lances. Yeah... they coulda got me but good. I don't wanna get poked with one of those. Good thing I chopped his claw off. That was pretty sharp too." She considered things for a moment. "'course, since they had a Murasame Liger, that means they're even sharper. It's a pretty sharp cat."

"That's not what I meant, Tasch." Rose continued.

"Well I thought they were sharp." She continued. "I dunno what you think is sharp then."

"Sorry to interrupt." An new voice entered the conversation. "This is the PKB. We've just received word that the Scarlet Crusaders have come under attack. Additionally, our scouts have sighted several Zoids in the area that could be NUBG units. They're definitely active in the area, and we suspect are moving to take over the battle as we predicted."

"Right. What should we do?" Stephen asked.

"We'll investigate. You keep heading to the battlefield for the moment ands await further instructions. Two of our units will meet you there."

"Affirmative." Stephen nodded. "You heard him. Keep going and remain casual."

"And try to pretend that we don't know that there are NUBG guys out there trying to kill us." Neil finished. "Gotcha."

The convoy continued on its way, progressing through the rocky desert towards their objective. Even though they all knew what was going on, the four pilots remained cautious, constantly watching the area around them for any signs of potential attackers. Above them, the skies darkened, the occasional bolt of distant lighting breaking up the grey. After what seemed like a short eternity, the team reached the battlefield, on time according to the PKB's plan.

As they approached, they could see something odd; a pair of smoke columns rising up from the desert floor. Eantering the battlefield proper, it became obvious where they had come from; a pair of PKB Zoids, a Gorheks and an Arosaurer, lay on their sides, huge holes blasted through their armour.

"Guys..." Neil began. "I think we're not alone."

"I can't see anything on my Gustav's scope." Stephen began. "Tasch?"

"Nope." She replied. "I ain't got nothing."

"What's the plan then?" Rose asked. "Do we assume that they've been and gone or what?"

"You and Neil get ready." He replied. "I'll contact the PKB." He activated the Gustav's long rage communications system, but got only the loud hiss and pop of static. Skipping channels, he got the same on every line. "This isn't good." He began as Rose's Zero stepped past his Zoid. "It looks like we're being jammed."

"It's gotta be a Dark Spiner." Tasch spoke up. "Or a Dimetro, yeah. Somehtin' big and wide-area, somehtin' that could be out of our sensor range."

"Right." He commented. "Tasch, get to your Zoid. I'll join you as soon as possible." He leaped out of the cockpit, sprinting towards his massive Zoid that was sitting on the Gustav's trailer. A few minutes later, his Zoid stepped off, its head turning as it searched the area, slowly knuckling its way towards the rest of the team. "I can't see anything on the composite sensors."

"And my radars can't see jack either." Neil added. "But then if we are being jammed, then they could be hiding right in front of us and I wouldn't see 'em."

"What now?" Rose asked, an anxious tone in her voice.

"Just stay sharp." Stephen replied. "And stay here. The PKB know where we're supposed to be, so if we remain here then they can find us, jamming or not." He cautiously looked around, wondering where exactly the PKB were. Apart from the two downed Zoids, he hadn't seen any signs of them since they'd reported the enemy activity.

"Great." Neil commented as a few drops of rain splattered off the Gunsniper's canopy. "It seems that they're smarter then they lo-"

Before he could finish, a massive blue-white beam appeared out of seemingly thin air in front of the team. The beam tore straight past their Zoids, instead striking the pair of Gustavs, literally blasting them apart, reducing them to twisted messes of debris.

"The hell?" Rose called out, glancing around for any sign of their attacker. "What... what was that?"

"That was our damage deposit going out the window." Neil commented. "I can't see what did it though. I've got nothing on radar, nothing on visual..."

"It's a charged particle cannon!" Tasch called out as her Redler took to the air. "Like what you'd get from a Genosaurer!"

A hollow laugh echoed across the battlefield. "You're right there." A woman's voice began. "You ZBC warriors... you can't handle the unexpected, the unsensual. Your reliance on your rules and regulations of battle have dulled your warriors instincts." Ahead of them a shape slowly appeared in the rain, initially just a blurry grey form but then resolving itself to the shape of a Genosaurer.

"A Holotech Genosaurer?" Rose asked. "The hell?"

"They're very rare." Tasch replied. "And really scary."

"You betrayed me." The pilot called out as she looked over the Broken Chairs, and at the Liger Zero. "I made you promise not to tell anyone about what happened. You betrayed that promise, and for that, you must suffer."

"Ariel?" Rose asked.

Before she could get an answer, there was a loud whirling noise form behind them. A second Zoid, a Gravity Saurer, leaped onto the top of a nearby rocky outcropping, the bizarre machine looking down on the team below. A third Zoid joined them, a Rev Rapter armed with a pair of Pile Bunker units emerging from behind a different rock.

"We're surrounded." Stephen glanced around. "It looks like we're going to fight our way out."

"We've got the numbers." Rose commented. "And it looks like they don't have an airborne Zoid, so that's an advantage."

As if on cue, a fourth shape entered the battlefield, swooping down over it. A dark blood-red colour with bright golden claws, the Zoid had a strange, almost skeletal look to it. Taller then the Genosaurer, it looked to be comprised of parts of other Zoids stuck together. "A Matrix Dragon!" Tasch called out. "Great. Now we're outnumbered to boot."

"Nice call, Rose." Neil added, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"What do you want?" Stephen called out. The question was answered for him as a small drone hovered over the battlefield, midway between his Zoid and the Genosaurer. He and the rest of the team could instantly recognise the drone for what it was, a judge drone, like the ones used by the ZBC... and the NUBG.

"The Bloody Fang versus the Broken Chairs." The deep, and menacing sounding electronic voice began. "NUBG rules: No restrictions. Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

oOoOo

As soon as he'd gotten up onto the mesa, Brock had been ready for the battle. His Gravity Saurer's drive system gave him the ability to get to places a lot of other Zoids couldn't, and this mesa made for the perfect firing position. He'd already dropped his sights onto the Liger, and was waitng for the signal to start.

As soon has he heard he judge drone signal to begin, he squeezed the triggers. All six of the Gravity Saurer's cannons opened fire, spitting beams at the unsuspecting Liger. The shots had the desired effect, slagging armour off its back and sides, causing the machine to stagger in place under the force of the blows.

"Yeah!" He called out as the white Zoid burst into a run. "Come on, kitty." He sneered. "You can run bur you can't hide." He'd picked the highest spot on the battlefield to atack from. Up here, his Gravity Saurer's long-range beam guns could be used to rain down damage on the Zoids below him, while he would be relatively safe from counter attack. Up here, only the Iron Kong or the Redler could get to him, and even then he knew that they'd have enough to deal with themselves.

He opened fire again, spraying shots at the Liger. This time the enemy pilot was ready for him, managing to weave her way through the bulk of his fire. It didn't really matter to him if she did; he'd get her eventually, and all she could do was run around and look stupid. The Zero's lack of long-ranged firepower was a flaw that so many people overlooked, but he wasn't one of them. He could blaze away all night if he wanted to, it wasn't like he'd run out of ammunition. The only thing he didn't want to throw at her were the Paznerfausts; he was saving those for if he could get a chance at the Iron Kong.

_It'd serve her right too_, he thought to himself. _Stupid cow... she shoulda taken up Ariel's offer when she had the chance. _He smirked. _Or she shouldn't have gone with her. _He didn't know exactly what it was that Ariel had offered him initially, but was willing to take the chance, He and the ZBC were far from friends anyway. To him, joining NUBG had been merely an end that had been coming for some time.

_And now here I am, one of the team's elites. Not bad, huh? From ZBC bottom-feeder to NUBG king. _He grinned as he opened fire again, another pair of shots narrowly missing the fast-moving enemy Zoid. "Won't be too much longer now," he thought. "Me, Brock Hartford, NUBG champion."

A volley struck the Liger in the side, causing the enemy Zoid to skid and slide, stumbling as its pilot tried to regain control of the machine. Inside the cockpit, Brock grinned to himself as he watched the enemy Zoid go. He was particularly glad that it was this Zoid that he was taking a shot at, the woman who had caused all of NUBG so much grief. It was her, more then any other one member of the team that had been a problem for them.

"And now she's mine." He added. "Come on, girl. Come and get it." He'd almost wished that she'd joined NUBG In a way. He'd found her to be quite attractive, and he'd definitely wanted to get to know her better. Of course, she would have been competing for his attention against Ariel. And Ariel, well... She had that whole 'underaged hottie' thing going and, well he didn't care how blatantly fake her boobs were. He just wanted to get his hands on them.

"Well, maybe she can thank me later after I take out this Liger." He continued. "Yeah. I'm sure she'd like that." he lined up his next shot as the Liger broke into a run, heading straight for him. He squeezed the trigger, his beam cannons shooting just over the Liger as it took off. Muttering to himself, he continued firing, trying to draw a bead on the Zoid that was probing to be so elusive. "Come on..."

The Liger vanished from his sights, dropping under the rim of the mesa he was squatting on. He glanced around, trying to figure its next move. _She can't get up here, can she? _He asked himself. _No way..._

No, he figured that he was safe for now. He could remain up here indefinitely, and she would have to move at some point or another. Once she did, then he'd be ready for her. And when she moved, then he'd be able to take her out.

"Come on. Come to daddy." He continued with a sneer. "You can't hide from me forever. So why not come on out and get what's coming to ya." He snorted to himself. "I'll make it quick and painless... course, I might go easy on ya, if you want to... make me feel good about it. Show me what you have... and I don't mean with the Liger."

He kept watching the area around him, waiting for the Liger to emerge. For the moment, she was the centre of his world, the only thing he cared about. For he knew if he took her out, then the world would be his.

oOoOo

Ariel remained fixated on the Iron Kong, staring at the massive machine opposite her. She recognised it as being the same loathsome Zoid that had defeated her twice before. She would not let it happen again. Her personal honour needed to be satisfied, and it demanded that she defeat this one Zoid. Once she was through with it, she figured, then she could deal with that craven coward in the Liger Zero who had dared to betray her.

As soon as the siren sounded to start the match, she charged forwards, opening fire on the huge enemy Zoid with her twin pulse cannons. The long-ranged weapons spat fire at the Iron Kong, which used its huge boosters to leap sideways out of her way. She twisted the cannons to follow it, turning as she went to keep tracking it. Shots peppered into the Iron Kong's chest, smashing into its armour but not appearing to do any serious damage. At least, not yet.

The Iron Kong landed from its jump, opening fire on the Genosaurer with its shoulder-mounted Hyperbeam launcher on her Zoid. Taking a leaf out of the enemy pilot's book, she fired the Genosaurer's own boosters, leaping up and away from the enemy Zoid's line of fire. The Genosaurer landed, then broke into a run as soon as it was down. She opened up the throttle, pushing her huge machine as fast as possible to close the distance between the pair of them.

She and the enemy pilot both opened fire at the same time, Ariel squeezing the trigger for the pulse cannons at the same time as the Iron Kong's pilot opened fire with the cluster of missiles concealed in the Zoid's left shoulder. Firing the thrusters again, she tried to twist away form the enemy weapons. She was partially successful, the several of the weapons slammed into the Genosaurer's side, shaking the Zoid and blasting armour form its flank. However, the damage was only superficial, her Zoid still fully functional.

"That will not stop me." She hissed. "This time, I will destroy you." The Genosaur let out a loud bellow as it charged forwards, lunging at the Iron Kong. Several more shots from the Pulse Cannons staggered the massive Zoid, gouging more armour off it and staggering it back. Seeing an opportunity, she moved in for the kill, aiming to take down her opponent in one fell swoop.

Her Genosaurer surged forwards, its massive jaws open and fangs bared for the kill. It lunged at the Kong, aiming to sink its teeth into the Zoid's body. The enemy Zoid managed to respond at the last second, bringing its right arm around to block the strike; the Genosaurer's fangs sinking into that instead. Snarling to herself, Ariel pushed the throttle forwards, her Zoid surging against its larger opponent while sinking its fangs in.

The Iron Kong raised its other arm, opening fire with the twin-barrelled cannon mounted there at near point-blank range, Several shots struck the Genosaurer's head and neck, causing the Zoid to stagger back. There was an ear-piercing shriek as the Iron Kong ripped its other arm free, the armour all but shredded by the Genosaurer's attack. Recovering quickly, Ariel lunged at the enemy machine with her Zoid's claws, aiming to capitalise on the damage she'd done.

The claws scored into the Iron Kong, shredding into the Zoid's forearms. One of them sliced through his forearm cannon mounting, ripping apart the weapon and reducing it to so much scrap. Grinning to herself at her minor victory, Ariel pressed on her attack, lunging at the huge Zoid again, aiming to finish it off.

Before she could strike, an ear-shattering thud resonated throughout the cockpit, the Zoid suddenly shuddering and staggering to one side. Before she could recover, a second strike drove the Genosaurer down, causing it to stumble. She glared at the Iron Kong as it raised its fist for a third strike, one that could finish off her Zoid - if she let it.

She swung around the Pulse Cannons, opening fire again on the Iron Kong as it reared back for another strike. The shots stuck the Zoid in its chest, causing it to step back for a moment. That was enough time for her, the Genosaurer leaping away form its opponent and breaking into a run.

Though damaged, the massive Zoid charged after her, knuckling along at high speed after her smaller, faster Zoid. The enemy pilot opened fire again with his Hyeprbeam cannon, the shot only narrowly missing her Genosaurer. She swerved the controls, the shot narrowly missing her Zoid. Spinning the Genosaurer around, she ran back towards the Iron Kong, the Zoid bellowing as it charged.

"This time, I will not be beaten." She hissed to herself, glaring at her massive opponent.

oOoOo

The Rev Rapter, its pilot apparently free from any overt concerns of vengeance or tactical needs, had decided to pick Neil as her primary target. The enemy Zoid had charged forwards, hissing and spitting as it ran, rapidly closing in with Neil's Gunsniper. For his part, Neil had no real desire to get any closer to it then he already was; he knew what the Zoid's array of claws, fangs and scythes could do to him, and didn't want to think about the two Pile Bunkers.

He raised the Gunsniper's arms, opening fire on the Rev Rapter as it charged at him. The enemy pilot seemed to be ready for him, however, and suddenly leaped out of his way, ducking bheind a rocky outcropping. Neil's shots tore into the rock around their Zoid, but didn't seem to do much else.

Neil knew that his best chance against the Rev Rapter was not to get too close to it, which fortunately was something he had a lot of experience in. The problem would be to get the enemy pilot to fight the way he wanted them to. "Okay... time to think." he began as he glanced around the battlefield. The rest of his team were all already tied up with other members of the enemy team, which meant that he couldn't rely on them for support. In fact, each of them looked like they could use some help.

"So I've got to finish this clown off as fast as possible." He muttered to himself. "Right. Let's get to work." The Gunsniper broke into a run, sprinting away form the Rev Rapter's last known location. His plan was simple; force the enemy pilot to come to him, where he could battle them on his own terms. The secret was to get them to play the way he wanted to.

As he'd expected, the Rev Rapter charged out form its cover, sprinting after his Zoid. Though it was normally slightly faster then a Gunsniper, Neil noticed that the Rev Rapter had been having trouble with keeping up with him, and even seemed to be lagging behind. He immediately put that down to the weight of the twin piledrivers, something he felt that he could use to his advantage.

That didn't; seem to be deterring the Rapter's pilot, however. Their Zoid chased after his, sprinting across th landscape, trying to lcose the distance between the pair of them. _This could almost be fun, _Neil thought to himself. _If not for all the sharp claws and teeth that he wants to sink into me._

"I'll rip you apart with my bare hands!" The female pilot of the enemy Zoid called out as she chased after him, her Zoid snarling as if to emphasise the point.

"Oookay then, maybe not." He finished. "Okay, I think that now would be a good time to end this. Definitely now."

The Gunsniper fired its boosters, leaping into the air and landing on a nearby rock. Spinning around, Neil dropped his sights onto the approaching Rev Rapter. Lining it up, he opened fire with one of the rocket pods on the Zoid's back, just as the Zoid leaped up to get onto the rock. The results were rather dramatic; the rockets slammed into the oncoming Rapter, literally smashing it out of the air and sending it crashing to the ground below. He peered down at the Rapter as it lay there, flat on its back, its legs sticking up.

"Oookay, I'm going to assume you're out of action now." He began. "Let me know otherwise, and I'll be sure to, um, run away."

The Gunsniper hopped down from its perch, sprinting away from the downed Rapter to the other side of the battlefield. Looking over his radar scope, he could see that the situation did not look good. Rose was pinned down by the Gravity Saurer, Stephen was still tried up with the Genosaurer, and Tasch was engaged in an ongoing dogfight with the Matrix Dragon. None of them looked to be doing terribly well out of it.

Of course, there was the question of what he could do to alter the situation. He could do relatively little against the Matrix Dragon, and he didn't fancy his odds against the Genosaurer. That left just one enemy Zoid he could try at...

_Ah hell, why ever not? _He asked himself as a plan began to form in his mind. Opening up a channel, he called out to Rose. "Rose, it's me. I've got a plan!"

"Anything would be good right now!" She called back.

"Cool beans. Now just sit tight, and here's what we're going to do..."

oOoOo

The Matrix Dragon swooped down towards the fleeing Redler, spitting fire from its various weapons at its smaller target as it closed in. The Redler twisted in the air, executing a surprisingly tight roll as it weaved through their shots; several bouncing off its hull as the Zoid climbed away. Save for a few marks, the Zoid seemed to have escaped unharmed for now. The Redler fired its boosters climbing away from its larger attacker.

"Damn you." Gavin began. "Come back here and fight like a man!" He pushed the throttle all the way open, the dragon's quad iron boosters roaring to life as the Zoid climbed after the Redler. "You're not getting away this time!" He added as he opened fire with the trio of guns mounted on the dragon's neck; the two small AZ Handguns and the larger AZ Assault Rifle. Several rounds form the rifle struck the Redler's back, the enemy Zoid managing to peel away before it could take any serious damage. "DAMN!"

"What's wrong?" Bruno asked. "Having problems with one tiny little Zoid?"

"Oh shut up you." He snapped. "I'm trying to do all the work here. You're just sitting round in our collective crotch, twiddling your thumbs!" The Redler swung around on a tight, booster-assisted turn, trying to cut inside the Matrix Dragon's path. Not willing to let it get away, Gavin twisted the controls, the Zoid coming around after it.

"Hey!" Bruno shouted out. "Lay off the crotch bit! I'm sure I could do just as well in the Nightwise as you do!"

The Matrix Dragon closed in on the Redler, its head twisting to track the enemy Zoid. A gout of flame bellowed from its mouth, narrowly missing the enemy Zoid. "We've been over this enough times already." Gavin continued as the Redler rolled away form his Zoid. He winged over, the Zoid twisting as it rolled to keep its eyes and weapons pointed at its target. "I was chosen as the Nightwise pilot, and thus leader of this team, because I was better at it then any of you were. End of argument."

The handguns twisted to follow the Redler's path as the Zoid dived away, opening fire on it. The two weapons spat twin streams of fire at the other Zoid, narrowly missing it while carving a pair of gouges in the side of a rock. The Redler sped away, the pilot opening the throttle all the way to escape from the Matrix Dragon. "If you're so damned good, then why are you having so much trouble with one damn Redler?"

"Look, this Redler's a rather good pilot." He replied as he opened up the throttle, the Matrix Dragon barrelling after its smaller prey. "That's all that it is. But that's all she has. Just keep your eyes open in case she or any of her chums do anything stupid, understand? That's all of you louts, not just commander crotch."

"Hey!" Bruno called back. Gavin didn't care, being entirely focused on the matter of the Redler. He wanted to bring it down and fast. It wasn't done for the leader of NUBG's most elite team to be having problems with a single enemy Zoid, and a weak, outdated one at that. He watched the black dot ahead of them, trying to predict what the enemy pilot would do next while quietly wishing he had two more missiles.

The Redler answered the question for him, the enemy Zoid suddenly making an incredibly sharp booster-powered turn, bleeding off speed as the Matrix Dragon accelerated towards it. He violently twisted the controls as the Redler opened fire, its beam cannons spitting out energy bolts at his fused Zoid. The Matrix Dragon rolled out of the way, the shots narrowly missing it.

As he'd expected, the Redler pilot used this chance to close in, tyring to use her smaller size and greater speed against him. "Hold on!" He called out as the Dragon pulled back, its whole body bending as it rolled out of the Redler's path. Unable to match the Dragon's flexibility and agility, the Redler powered past him, its pilot trying to keep her nose on their Zoid.

Seeing a chance, he twisted the machine around, opening fire again with the two Handguns. The shots sped past the Redler, only narrowly missing it. Keeping one eye on the enemy Zoid and the other on the altitude, he rolled the Matrix Dragon over, diving then suddenly shooting back up towards the Redler.

"She's good." He muttered. "She'd damned good."

"Well, she managed to take out Jean." Bruno muttered. "And that takes skill, so I'll give her that much."

"Definitely." Gavin replied as the Matrix Dragon climbed over the Redler, shooting down on it as they passed. The Redler accelerated away, again trying to get away. He'd fought Jean in past, and knew what it took to match skills with him, let alone beat him.

"And Jean disappeared afterwards." CJ spoke up. "After fighting her!"

"What?" He snapped. "What are you babbling on about, you microcephalic moron?"

"Well, Jean fought her, and afterwards... well, he vanished, and all they found was the wreckage of his Zoid." He continued.

"It's her, man." Butch added. "She's a skilled pilot, she's in an airborne Zoid, it's a black dragon and her name is Stromer!" He continued, a nervous edge in his voice. "Don't you see it?"

"See what?" Ha snapped. "What are you going on about?"

"The Gilvader that's been out to get us!" Butch continued, sounding like he was about to panic. "It's her man! It's her!"

"Bloody hell!" He snapped across the communication link. He was having enough problems trying to track and bring down the Redler without having his team going to pieces on him. "We are a team! We work together in order to support each other and make ourselves the most potent force in NUBG. We cover each other and act as a single well-oiled machine! We do not spend our time arguing and we do not spend out time going on about some non-existent super Zoid that is supposedly trying to kill us all!"

"But-" CJ spoke up.

"No buts!" He snapped. "Now just stay focused and help me kill this damned Redler. And stop worrying like a bunch of bloody old women! There is no super Zoid or Gilvader or whatever out to get u-"

Before he could finish, the Zoid was rocked by a series of hits from above and behind it. Twisting the controls, Gavin was able to pull the Dragon out of the line of fire, as the sound of wailing sirens filled his ears. "What happened?" Bruno called out.

"Something just bloody well shot us in the back!" He continued as he fought with the controls. The unseen attacker had pulled away, but they'd done their damage. The Matrix Dragon's airspeed was dropping rapidly, while the controls were feeling sluggish and heavy in his hands. "Bloody hell! I've got red lights all over the board. We're loosing structural integrity!"

"It's the Gilvader! I told you!" Butch called out.

"Shut the hell up before I come down there and bloody well kill you myself!" He snapped.

"No way!" CJ added. "I want to be out of here before that thing comes back!"

Gavin snarled as he checked his status board. The Dragon was done for, its systems shot to hell. And, as near as he could tell, the Redler had circled around and was coming back to make another run on them. The situation looked hopeless, but there was one chance. "All right then! Everyone, prepare for separation in three... two... one... mark!"

The Matrix Dragon's body seemed to explode into a mess of smaller components in mid air, but yet at the same time seemed to retain something of its overall shape. The parts began to shift in the air, sliding and rearranging themselves into a quartet of smaller shapes, each one of them an individual Zoid that had previously been a part of the Matrix Dragon. And while each of them were badly battered, they were far less damaged overall then the combined Dragon had been.

All but one of them, that is.

The Unenalgia and Leoblaze hit the ground running, both sprinting away at high speed. The Mosasledge followed after them, just hovering over the landscape. Gavin's Nightwise, however, trailed behind them, its engine spluttering and coughing as it struggled to remain airborne. "Bloody hell." he muttered to himself as he checked over the damage display. The Nightwise had apparently taken the brunt of the assault, enough to compromise the individual Zoid as well as the Fuzor.

"CJ!" He snapped over the communicator. "I need an emergency pickup now!"

"Roger that!" he called out, his Leoblaze looping back towards the Nightwise, then running under it. The Zoid came around again, sprinting towards the Nightwise, then leaping into the air.

"NOW!" Gavin called out. The Nightwise split apart in mid air, its body, wings and cockpit then connecting onto the Leoblaze in mid leap. The new combined Zoid hit the ground running, sprinting a lot faster then it had before.

"So what now, Boss?" CJ asked.

"Now?" Gavin replied. "We get the hell out of here before that bloody thing comes back!"

oOoOo

In the cockpit of her Liger Zero, Rose patiently waited as she counted down. If Neil's plan came off, then they had a chance of getting out of this. If. She still didn't like Tasch's odds against the Matrix Dragon, but at the very least things would be looking better on the ground. "Any second now, Neil..." she quietly said to herself. "Any second."

There was a series of loud explosions, followed by a rumbling noise from nearby. That was her signal to go and launch her stage of the plan. "Okay, let's do this!" She called out to herself as she opened up the throttle, the Liger roaring as it broke into a run around the base of the mesa. Ahead of her, she could see a mess of rocks sliding down the side and crashing to the ground, blasted loose by a volley of rockets from the Gunsniper.

She pushed the throttle all the way open, the Liger's boosters firing as the Zoid bounded up the rock pile, leaping its way towards the top of the mesa and, more importantly, the Zoid that was standing right on top of it. Neil had done a great job, she figured, the path he'd cleared giving her a straight run up to it.

The Zoid bounded onto the top of the mesa, opening fire on the Gravity Saurer as soon as it came into sight. The shots blasted into the enemy Zoid's heavily armoured flank, the Saurer wavering on its feet before it could recover. While it in no way equalled the amount of damage he'd done to her Zoid so far, it was a good start.

"Surprised to see me?" She began. "Come on... you've got no place to run. Let's see how you like things now that we're on my terms." The Liger roared as it ran forwards, the golden glow of the Strike Laser Claw system building up as it ran.

The Gravity Saurer's pilot reacted well. His Zoid started tunning away from hers, leaping off the edge of the Mesa and into the air. Its Gravity Wheel hummed and glowed bright blue as it took off, sending it sailing across the distance from the top of the mesa onto another smaller hill. As the Liger ran after it, she yelled into the communicator. "Neil! Its working just as you predicted!" She began. "He's waiting for you!"

"No need to shout, already." Neil called back. "But thanks for the hot tip of the day. I'm ready for him!" The Gunsniper burst out from cover, running towards the Gravity Saurer, its chest and arm cannons blazing. The Gravity Saurer had turned to face Rose in perpetration for her following him, and wasn't prepared for the array of shots from the smaller Zoid. The cannons carved armour off the Zoid's flanks, eating into the thick, well-protected side.

The Saurer turned to face Neil, which was Rose's signal to act. The Zero charged forwards, its boosters open at full burn. The Zoid leaped into the air, tracing a golden arc through the dull skies as its claws lead its decent towards the enemy Zoid. This time, the enemy pilot seemed to have some idea of what was going on, however. The Gravity Saurer leaped away, bounding off its rock and breaking into a high-speed run just before the Zero landed.

"Don't let him get away!" Rose shouted out as she opened fire with the tail cannon, sending a few shots after the fleeing Gravity Zoid. "We've got him good now!"

The Zero leaped off the rock, sprinting after the other machine. Neil followed it, quickly dropping behind as the Zero easily outpaced him. Before she could close with the Gravity Saurer, however, the enemy machine launched itself into the air again, lading on another rock and spinning around to being its weapons to bear. A wave of fire, including one of the Panzerfausts, burst off its back-mounted cannons, raining down on Rose's Zoid from above.

The Zero took several hits, smashing intro it as it ran. The Zero stumbled, clods of wet sand flying up as it crashed to the desert floor, unbalanced by the force of the attacks. Rose was thrown around in the cockpit, her safety harness grabbing her and slamming her into the back of her seat before she hit the console. Shaking her head to recover, she tried to get the Zero back to its feet as quickly as possible.

"You're gonna wish you'd joined the NUBG, you stupid cow." The Gravity Sauer's pilot called out. "You were stupid not to join. You were even stupider to run off to the pigs."

She blinked for a moment, recognising the voice. "Hey... you're that Brock guy... the one who was with me that night and... oh hell."

"Yeah, you finally figured it out." He sneered. "Maybe you're not so dumb after all. Maybe I should give you a bit of credit." The Gravity Saurer made a low, gargling sound as it looked down at her Zoid. "Tell ya what. I've got an offer for ya. Join us now... and I'll let ya live."

Rose glanced around, looking for options. Once again, he had the high ground and the range advantage, and, unlike last time, there were few places he could hide. "Come on..." She began. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Look at me, Rose." He called out. "I used to be a looser, a bottom rung in the ZBC ladder. I was a nothing, a nobody." There was an edge in his voice, one of genuine anger. "And then I joined NUBG. And you know what? It was the best damned move I ever made."

"It made a world of difference, Rose." He continued. "In their world, with no rules. no restrictions, no artificial limitations to hold me back, I was king. In the time since you last saw me, I went from a nothing to one of their best. Think about that. Think about what you could have been, and consider it."

_Yeah, you only did well because you've got an ounce of brain... which is more then the rest of them could boast. _She hated to admit it, but he was one of the most capable NUBG pilots she'd ever met, and was certainly handling his Gravity Saurer a lot better then she'd expected. "I"d have been a criminal, Brock. A criminal like you."

"Criminal is merely a point of view, Rose." He called out as he swung his weapons to bear on her Zoid. "Now what's your answer?"

She glanced at his Zoid, and smiled. "I'd say that my answer is that you can go shove the NUBG, Brock."

"Why you-" He began, but was cut off as the Gravity Saurer's legs and feet were peppered with shots. The ground underneath the Zoid cracked as Neil's Gunsniper, which had closed the distance with the enemy Zoid while its pilot was shouting at Rose, poured fire into it and the Zoid's legs. The ridge the Gravity Zoid was standing on cracked, and then crumbled, the Zoid slipping down the slope with the shower of rocks.

The Gravity Wheel whirred to life as the Zoid broke into a strange, hopping run down the slope, its pilot trying his best to reign in its uncontrolled slide. However, as it was sliding, Rose was using the opportunity to her advantage. The Zero broke into a run, sprinting up the slope towards the Gravity Saurer. Firing its boosters, it leaped into the air, its claws glowing a brilliant golden colour as they prepared to strike.

Brock must have seen what was coming at the last instant, the Gravity Saurer desperately trying to twist out of the way of the attack. He was successful to a degree; the Zoid managing to twist out of the way of the main part of the strike. Rather then cutting through the Zoid's neck, the claws instead crashed down, ripping through the array of cannons on the Gravity Saurer's back, slashing straight through them and tearing them apart.

Unbalanced by the loss of the cannons as well as the fall, the Gravity Saurer crashed face-first into the ground, sliding down the slope. Rose's Liger skidded on the hill as it turned, before barrelling downhill after it. "So, how are you feeling now?" Rose asked. "A bit less confident, huh?"

The battered Gravity Saurer leaped to its feet, glancing back at the damaged Zero. For a moment, the Zoid seemed to be glaring at her. Then, letting out a loud gurgling cry, it broke into a run, its gravity wheel glowing a brilliant blue as it sprinted away.

"Do we go after him?" Neil asked. "Gloop him in the back for bonus points?"

"Naw." Rose replied. "I think he's had his fill. 'sides, I think that Stephen could use some help about now."

oOoOo

Right now, Stephen couldn't have agreed more with Rose's statement. Checking over his status board, he could see that his Iron Kong was not looking good. While most of its systems were fully functional, the armour on his arms and chest was more gone then there. Too much more punishment from the Genosaurer, and he'd be in a lot of trouble.

He was rather surprised by the way that the situation had developed; he'd fought Ariel twice before, and after that hre'd thought he knew what to expect this time round. Clearly such was not the case. The enemy pilot was a lot more violent, a lot more intense then she'd been last time that they'd fought. He couldn't think why, but suspected that it related to this being an NUBG Battle as opposed to a ZBC one. Either that, or her position within the NUBG was in peril.

_And after what Rose told me about what happened in the arena, I wouldn't be surprised. _Even though he didn't know the full story, he doubted that NUBG's management would be happy with her bringing a complete stranger into the arena and, more to trhe point, letting them walk straight out. _I know I wouldn't be. I'd have her arse in a sling for that._

The Iron Kong broke into a run, knuckling away form the Genosaurer as it lunged at him again. Snarling, seemingly out of frustration at having missed its prey, the enemy Zoid opened fire with its twin pulse cannons on him. One shot scarred the armour on the Kong's back before Stephen could leap out of the enemy Zoid's line of fire. The twin boosters firing, the Zoid leaped away from the enemy machine, coming down ontop of a nearby rock.

As soon as he was down, he swung the Kong around, dropping his sights onto the enemy Zoid. Lining it up, he squeezed off a shot form the Hyperbeam cannon at his opponent. The Genosaurer seemed ready for this, however, and leaped into a run, the shot only narrowly missing its flank. The black and purple Zoid charged forwards, firing again at the Kong as it closed in, aiming for the kill.

Using the manoeuvrer vanes to twist the Zoid aside, Stephen was barely able to avoid the enemy machine's fire. As he came around, the Genosaurer lunged at him again, its jaws snapping at the Iron Kong. He bought up the left forearm, using the now useless cannon to block the attack as the enemy Zoid closed in. The Genosaurer's jaws smashed down on the arm, crushing the remnants of the cannon and digging into the armour.

He swung around with the right arm, aiming to slam the enemy Zoid in the side like hew had before. This time she was ready, her Zoid's claws raking across the Kong's forearm, slashing through the armour. Undeterred, he swung again, this time with the hand open. The force of the hit seemed to stagger the Genoaurer this time, its grip on his arm weakening.

"Damn you!" He snapped. "Will you just damn well give up already?" He swung around with the left arm, aiming to throw off the enemy Zoid. This time he had some success, the Genosaurer releasing his Zoid's arm. The enemy pilot leaped back from him, clearly not wanting to get any closer to his Zoid's fists, at least not for now.

The enemy pilot opened fire, again spraying shots form the main cannons. Several struck the Kong's chest, tearing into what little armour remained there, before Stephen managed to get the Zoid out of the line of fire. _Any more there and I'm through, _he thought. _I've got to figure her out... look for some weakness some chance to act. _The enemy pilot was proving to be surprisingly sharp or, at the very least, very desperate. What he needed was some kind of opening, something that would give him a chance. He almost wished she would use her Charged Particle Cannon, simply because it would give him a shot at her while she was immobilised.

Several shots struck the Genosaurer's flank, scorching the armour but not doing much else to it. However, they were enough to grab the pilot's attention. The Genosaurer turned to face its attacker, the black and green Redler almost blending into the dark clouds above it.

"Tasch?" he called over the communicator. "I thought that you were dealing with the Matrix Dragon."

"Yeah, I was." She replied as she looped around. "But it kinda exploded. That's not to say that it de-fused, which it did do, but it kinda exploded before that."

"Uh, sure." He replied, not entirely sure what to make of Tasch's comments. "Well, I appreciate the help."

"She's not the only one!" Rose called out as her Zero charged in, opening fire with its impact cannon. Several shots slammed into the Genosaurer's side, smashing through the armour on its hip. "My partner left early, so I'm free."

"Same here." Neil commented over the communicator. "So you're not alone, Stephen. We're all here for ya."

"Thanks." he replied, forcing a smile. "Right then.." The Iron Kong tuned to the Genosaurer, which was snarling at Rose's Zero. "Ariel, you're outnumbered and surrounded. The rest of your team have run off or have been knocked out. Give it up now; there's no shame in admitting defeat in a situation like this."

"Never!" She shouted back. "I would never shame myself by surrendering to the likes of you!" The Genosaurer fired its thrusters, leaping straight at the Iron Kong, its jaws open to strike. The Iron Kong barely avoided the strike, only to be slammed in the side by the Genosaurer's tail. The force of the blow knocked him back, leaving him vulnerable for a moment.

The Genosaurer's pulse cannons swung around, aiming straight for the Iron Kong's head. For an instant, Stephen could see that it was all over. Then, before they could fire, the cannon turret literally exploded, shattering into a pile of debris. The Genosaurer shuddered, but remained standing, the damage apparently confined to just its weapons.

"Neil?" Stephen asked.

"Better believe it." He called back. "Admit it, you love me."

A loud bellow from the Genosaurer cut off any reply that Stephen could have offered. "How dare you!" Ariel shouted out. "For that, I should destroy you all!"

The Zoid again charged in, closing the distance between the pair of them quickly while snapping with its jaws. Stephen only just avoided the strike, the Iron Kong stepping around the enemy machine and then opening fire with the Hyperbeam cannon at point-blank range. The weapon blasted into the Genosaurer's damaged hip, ripping through the armour and shredding the structure and power systems below it.

Despite the damage, however, Ariel kept going. She lunged at him again, the Genosaurer managing to drag itself around and striking again. The claws raked into the Iron Kong's side, tearing into the armour. In reply, Stephen raised the Kong's right arm, then drive it down on the Genosaurer's neck. The enemy Zoid crumpled, but refused to go down, the Genosaurer roaring as it again snapped at the Kong.

"I've had about enough of you!" He shouted. The Kong grabbed at its jaws with its two hands, prying them open. He wedged the Kong's elbow into the back of the Genosaurer's neck, pulling against the enemy Zoid as it tried to pull away. There was a horrible metallic tearing as the Iron Kong pried the Genosaurer's jaws further and further apart, pushing them well beyond their structural design limits. "Just stay down already!" He called out as the Kong put all of its weight onto the Genosaurer's body. There was a loud snipping noise, followed by a shattering of glass as the Zoid's jaws simply broke, both snapping off their joints.

The Kong released the Genosaurer, which simply flopped to the ground. The Zoid didn't respond, instead lying flat on the ground with its jaws limply hanging off it, the barrel of the charged particle cannon hanging out of the mouth like a swollen tongue.

"Wow." Neil commented as his Gunsniper hopped over to the two Zoids. "That was hardcore, man. Remind me to never, ever piss you off."

"You okay there, Stephen?" Rose asked, her Liger also walking over to the two machines.

"Yeah, I guess." he muttered. The Iron Kong slumped, then simply crouched down, as if the Zoid was reflecting the pilot's mood. "I just got a little angry... I wanted her to give up, and not keep fighting like that. What did she think was going to happen?"

"Don't worry about it." Rose replied. "We'll pull her out and give her to the PKB. Maybe something will come out of this all."

"Sure." He muttered. "What about the rest of them?"

"They all ran off." Rose finished. "Well, the Gravity Saurer ran off, and so did all the individual parts of the Dragon. Neil knocked the Rev Rapter down, but we lost track of the pilot."

Stephen nodded. "That's okay." he finished. "I think we've done more then enough for one day."

oOoOo

Elden Vanderlinen had been about to head out for the evening when his phone rang. What he didn't like was that it was his 'business' number, the one that he usually only used during office hours. More work was the last thing he needed; he was about to head out to a new club he'd discovered and meet up with Drake, with whom things were going very well. It as amazing how well he'd taken to a little bit of sweet talking.

Grabbing the phone, he picked it up and checked the number that was dialing. He recognised it instantly as being one of his more 'discrete' clients, one that tended to ask him to do things quietly. They didn't want anything illegal, they just preferred it if matters were handled as discreetly as possible without too many people knowing. The result was that they sometimes tended to call him at odd hours.

It was annoying, but it was one of the drawbacks to being the city's best accountant. And given that it paid for his lifestyle, especially his near-new townhouse in the best part of the city, he could live with it.

"Hello?" he began.

"This is Rach." The woman on the other end began. "Sorry if I've caught you at a bad time."

"Not at all." he replied. He didn't mind Rach, actually. She paid him well and didn't ask too many questions, which made his life a lot easier. And, while he had never met her in person, he liked the sound of her voice. She sounded like a quite attractive young woman and, while that wasn't his thing, he could appreciate it. Besides, what little he'd gathered told him that she had impeccable taste, something else he could appreciate. "So how can I help you?"

"I've had a couple of..." she began, a little nervous sounding. "Well, bad business dealings would be the best way to put it." She almost sounded guilty. "So I'm going to need to create some cash, preferably quickly."

"Ah, you need some liquid assets." He began. "Not a problem."

"Thank you for that." She replied, a relived tone in her voice. "I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble."

"Not at all." he finished. The truth was, he liked a challenge. And to his mind, manipulating finances was a far greater challenge then running around in a Zoid and trying to blow something up, and far more rewarding. "I'll get onto it soon and let you know."

"Sure." She finished. "And thank you again."

"It's all cool. Later." He finished as he closed the call. Smiling to himself, he pocketed the phone. Sure it was a little more work, but he could live with it. And besides, he was in a very good mood.

**Author's notes:**

Peter Jackson is entirely to blame for this chapter ballooning out.


	12. End of the Road

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Twelve - End of the Road

By Rick R.

oOoOo

On a Sunday morning, the area around the Broken Chairs base was usually very quiet. The run down industrial district that their base was located in didn't have that much in the way of population, and as a result there were very few people and almost no traffic around. Save for a couple of other teams who had bought cheap reconditioned factories as bases, the team had no real neighbors. In fact, they were about the only inhabitants on their street.

The calm and serenity of the morning was suddenly and rudely shattered by a loud explosion that echoed across the Chairs' base. A second later there was a cacophony of screeches and cries as a flock of birds took off in a confused mass from the vacant lot behind the base, desperate to get away from whatever it was that had interrupted their rest.

"What the hell was that?" Rose shouted as she stormed into the kitchen. She was somewhere between frightened and angry, having apparently been caught by surprise by the sudden interruption. A loose-fitting shirt and a pair of baggy pants that seemed to be only held up by her hand clutching at the waist gave the obvious impression that she'd been rudely awakened.

"Don't look at me!" Neil called back. "I haven't touched the microwave, honest!" He held his hands in the air in a gesture of mock surrender.

"Neil!" She snapped. "What the hell-" A second retort, sounding like a small explosion cut her off. "That came from out the back."

"The back?" He asked. "But there's nothing there but weeds, rusting junk and a few nice stagnant ponds. Anyone trying to sneak in there would be either very brave or very stupid."

"Well don't just stand there!" She snapped. "I want to see what this is?"

"You gonna put your pants on fi-"

"Shut up, Neil." She finished as she hitched her pants up. "I'm not in the mood." She stalked out of the kitchen, heading into the Hanger. "Hey Tasch, you down there?"

"Yeah?" Tasch called out as she stuck her head out form under the Redler. "What's up?"

"Didn't you hear the noise?" She asked.

"I was workin'" She called back. "I could barely hear nothin'."

There was a pause. "What the hell are you doing fixing Zoids on a Sunday morning?"

"I weren't doing anything else." She finished.

"Right." Rose stormed down the stairs, Neil right behind her. "Come on, I want to see what's going on here."

They stepped out of the hanger and into the ugly, barren concrete courtyard that surrounded the building. It was unadorned, save for the old weed growing up between cracks in the ground and a few rust patches. When they'd bought the base, there had been talk of doing up the courtyard or completely renovating it or just finding some way to improve it. Then reality had set in as they'd gotten to see just how awful it was and all thoughts of beautification had vanished.

Another blast filled the air as soon as they were outside. "Whatever it is-" Neil shouted. "It's coming from around the corner there."

"Well don't just stand there." Rose snapped as she strode off, an angry look on her face. "What ever it is..."

The three of them rounded the corner, all with no idea what to expect. What they found was Stephen, a shotgun in his hand, standing by a low wall that overlooked the overgrown vacant lot behind the base. Balanced on the wall was an eclectic collection of objects; several of the nonfunctional computer monitors that they had found in the back rooms of the base, along with other bits of hardware; an old telephone; a number of bottles; a battered phone book that had been propped up and several pieces of rusted junk that looked like they had been rescued from the back lot.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rose shouted as Stephen leveled the shotgun at the wall.

"What am I doing?" He asked. "What I'm doing is finding a constructive outlet for my anger." he replied, the fired, The shotgun barked, followed by a loud crashing as one of the monitors flew off the wall, vanishing behind it with a crash.

"God damn it!" Rose continued, her hands over her ears. "What the hell is this, blowing all this crap up?"

"Rose, you may not have noticed, but I am, by nature, a very angry man."

"Really?" Neil quipped, sticking a finger in his ear. "I'd never have guessed."

"Right now, I am quite incredibly angry." He continued. "I'm angry about the NUBG. I'm angry about the fact that we can't do anything about them. I'm angry about the fact that the PKB and ZBC can't seem to do anything about them. I'm angry about the fact that we've got to spend what should be our rookie year, the most important year of our careers, looking over out shoulders in case somebody attacks us or tries to drag us into an illegal battle. And I'm angry about the fact that nobody seems to damn well care what we're going through."

"Fine then!" Rose snapped. "But can you at least warn us before you start shooting?"

"Sorry. But I figured if I'd asked, you'd have said no anyway, and I'd be angrier still." He turned back to the wall.

"Well heck, y'all can't argue with that logic." Tasch commented. "And 'sides, it ain't like we're usin' this stuff for anything."

"What?" Rose turned to her. "You mean that it's all okay for him to go around shotgunning things?"

"Only stuff we ain't usin'." She explained. "Otherwise, it'd be a waste."

"She's got you there." Neil spoke up.

"Fine then. But I don't see what this is meant to achieve." Rose muttered.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it." Stephen continued. "It's a great way to work through your anger. I always feel better after a few rounds of shotgunning."

"Well it's not like I have a gun of my own." Rose replied. "And I've never even fired one in my life."

"Well then." Stephen began. He put the Shotgun down, and instead picked up a pistol that was on a nearby chair, along with several boxes of ammo. "Try this." He handed her the gun.

"What?"

"Give it a go." He began. "Don't worry, its not loaded. If you feel comfortable holding it, then maybe we can work up to a practice shot."

"Well, I guess…" She took the gun in her hands, then almost dropped it. It was a lot heavier then she expected. She'd seen people in movies running around with a pistol in each hand firing away like mad, but all of a sudden she had to wonder just how 'cinematic' that was. "This thing weighs a ton."

"Well, like you said. You've never used one before, so you're not ready for the bulk of it." He explained. "And a lot of people tend to underestimate how much a gun weighs, and how much even the lightest pistol can kick when fired."

She held it up in both hands, then pointed it at the wall. "Yeah, I can imagine. It looks easy but isn't." She squinted as she pointed the pistol. "But if I hold it like this…" She looked down at a battered monitor on the wall. "I think I could give it a try."

Stephen walked up behind her. "Sure thing. I'll help ya out here." He held his hand over hers, then took the gun. "Now, put the stock squarely up against your shoulder, and don't put your finger on the trigger until you are absolutely ready to kill something. One shell for now. We'll work your way up to more."

"Am I the only one here who finds this to be rather disturbing?" Neil asked.

"Yes." Tasch replied.

"I can't ague with that." He shrugged.

"Right, here we go…" Stephen handed the gun back to Rose, then resumed his place behind her, gently supporting her hands. "Just take your time, Rose. No need to rush. Whenever you're ready."

"Sure…" She tried to line up the monitor, but found that her hands were shaking, causing the gun to sway. "You sure it'll be okay?"

"Don't worry. I've been doing this for years. I know what to do."

"I'm going to be sick." Neil added. "See ya guys in a bit. I'll be in the bathroom trying to recover from all the gun love." He turned around and walked off.

"Hey… umm…" Tasch looked around, then shrugged and followed after him.

Rose ignored him, instead focusing on the monitor. "It's amazing. I've been shooting at enemy Zoids for ages… but never something like this."

"It's a world of difference, trust me." He continued. "So, think you're ready?"

"I guess so." She replied confidently.

"Good. Go for it then."

Rose squeezed the trigger and fired, then staggered back as the gun discharged. The massive kick from the gun slammed her back, and she almost stumbled, bumping back into Stephen. For a moment, there was silence, then a muffled thump as the damaged monitor fell backwards off the wall. "Did I get him?" She asked.

"You clipped it, but that did the trick." Stephen replied.

"That… that felt surprisingly good, actually." She commented.

"So, ready to give it another try."

Rose turned around, and smiled. "Yeah, why not?" She asked. "I needed to blow off some steam myself… and this sounded like as good a way as any."

oOoOo

Gregor Berkut sat patiently at his booth in the bar, quietly sipping his beer as he waited for his contact to arrive. He'd been told that there was somebody who wanted to see him with some degree of urgency, presumably for information. This annoyed him to no end; of late, it seemed like everyone was coming to him for info on the NUBG.

He didn't like it much. He and his associates had never been open about what they had done. He didn't want to either; besides the fact that it would make them targets for the NUBG, there was the simple fact that what they had done was out and out illegal. Walking around the city in Zoids was one thing, but forming an armed vigilante group was right out. The fact that they had several times actively engaged NUBG pilots in battle was more so.

So when somebody suddenly started asking for info on the NUBG, he found it irritating to say the least. In fact, he became downright suspicious. He had to wonder if somebody in the NUBG wasn't looking for some revenge, and using the current situation as an excuse to have a go at him.

_Well, I'm prepared for anything they can throw at me, _he thought. _Some days, it pays to be prepared._

A woman sat down in the seat opposite him, lounging against the back wall in a rather casual manner. As he turned to her, he was immediately taken back by her appearance. Tall and heavily muscled, she had short-cropped black hair and violet eyes. Her mode of dress stood out as well; a sleeveless purple mini-top and matching from-fitting pants showed off a lot of her body and how well muscled it was.

"Hello Gregor." She began, a grin spreading across her face. "How's things going?"

"Jill Constantine." He remarked. "I didn't expect to see you back here."

"I heard that things were getting fun again back in this big town, so I thought that I'd drop by." She commented, seemingly looking away at a point to the left of his head. "Catch up on a few old friends and the like."

"Well this is hardly the time and the place." He commented. "Now if you don't mind, I'm-"

"Expecting someone, I know." She offered. "That was me. I just wanted to say hi and all."

"I see. So is there a reason why you're here?"

"I wanted to know how things were going." She continued. "See how you and your manly militia were handling things here in the big smoke."

Gregor snarled under his breath. "We disbanded years ago." He patiently explained. "We haven't been doing anything of late."

"Well then…" She began. "You're being a bit slack, 'aintcha? There's NUBG about and there's nobody doing a thing to stop 'em. They're being allowed to roam the streets after night and rough up small kiddies for ice cream money."

"They're not a direct threat, Jill." He answered. "They've been focused on one single team and that's it. Apart from that, they're harmless. And it's likely that they will get over it sooner or later when the battles become unprofitable."

"Really?" She asked. "I guess we have different standards."

"Jill, this isn't like it was a few years ago." He explained. "Things are different now. It's not like they're running amok and wantonly attacking any ZBC team they come across. They're no longer a threat."

"Yeah… but they're still around, ain't they?" She finished, then grinned. "Well, I guess I had better be going. See ya round."

She stood and waked off, leaving Gregor sitting in his booth alone. He watched her go, wanting to make sure that she had left the bar before he did anything. Then, as soon as he was sure that he was, he pulled out his phone. Some people would need to know about this.

oOoOo

"I suppose I should be happy that they're at least doing it outside." Neil commented as he sat on the couch. A loud shot rang out as if to emphasise his statement. "You know, going outside and getting some fresh air and all that."

"Huh?" Tasch asked as she looked up from her computer.

"You know, the way that they're shotgunning things in the back garden." He continued. "I mean, am I the only one here who finds it a little... Disturbing even?"

"Not really." Tasch commented as she looked over the e-mail she had been writing. "I mean, they like doing it and I ain't got no problems with it."

"You don't?"

"Naw." She explained. "'cause they ain't pointing those things at me an' they ain't pointin' em at other people or animals or anything, so nobody really gets hurt unless you count computer monitors." She offered. "So that's okay with me."

"Doesn't it seem to be a little..." He shrugged. "Excessive or violent to you?"

"Well It would be." She continued. "But then, its sorta like what we do, for a living, really. We shoot at stuff all the time."

"Huh." He commented. "I guess you could put it like that."

"So it ain't that different, really. It's just like practicin', I guess." She finished.

"I suppose so." Neil looked out the window.

Tasch went back to her e-mail, looking over it before she continued writing again. _Anyways, Stephen has been out shooting crap in the garden, which he says 'makes him feel better'. _She wrote. _I wouldn't know 'cause I've never used a shotgun, or any other type of gun for that matter. Or at least any other gun that ain't bolted on a Zoid._

_Anyways, this week is the quater finals round. I'm really excited about it, 'cause its a lot better then I thought we'd actually do, what with us being a team of all rookies and stuff. If we get through to the finals that'd be really neat, but I think that I'm gonna be happy if we just get this far. I'd send ya an invite to the finals if we get there, but since you travel so much I don't know if you'd would be able to come, and it'd probably just be a problem if you were in the middle of travelling and you had to reschedule everything around a match that we may or may not even get to._

_Anyways, Siske, I hope that-_

She was interrupted by a beep indicating an incoming e-mail. Checking her system, she could see that it was from the Battle Commission. "Battle details, huh?" She began to herself.

"What's up?" Neil asked.

"We got the details of our next battle." She replied. "The one for the quater finals round."

"Really?" Neil asked. "Who's it up against?"

"I'm just checkin' that now." Tasch opened up the message. "Hey... it's them guys."

"Say what?" Neil asked, then looked over the message. "Ah hell." He muttered. "Well, is a good thing that Stephen's busy working through his anger right now."

"Yeah." Tasch nodded. "Because most of that stuff was just cluttering up the base... and htis way we're finding a use for it rather then just throwing it out."

Neil smiled. "You find the bright side of most everything. So who wants to tell him?"

oOoOo

Miles blinked awake, glancing at the clock by his bed. It was somewhere approaching eleven, which was the sort of time he actually liked on a Sunday morning. In fact, this was his idea of the perfect Sunday morning... lying back in bed till eleven, then not going anywhere for a while after that. He rolled over, noting that Crystal was still lying next to him in the bed, and was apparently just as naked as she had been last night. _Yeah, this is the perfect Sunday morning, _he thought.

When he'd rebuilt the Firestorm team, he'd been looking for a pair of skilled and experienced warriors to replace the ones that he'd lost when the team broke up. Crystal had demonstrated that she had both of those things, but had been, well, a little more blatant then that when it came to reasons why she should be on the team. He didn't really care; she'd proven her worth to the team more then a few times and had clearly been a part of their success this season.

The fact that she was sleeping with him was really just a bonus to his mind. He knew that it was really just about sex and not too much else, and, more to the point, the feeling was mutual. He was aware that Crystal had been spending all her time hitting on Drake when she thought that he wasn't looking. Frankly, he didn't mind if they were screwing on the side; as long as she kept holding up her place in the tem - and in his bed - he really didn't mind. He figured that she'd only gone to bed with him in the first place because he was the team's leader anyway. But then, to his mind, being leader entitled you to a certain amount of privilege.

He considered slipping his hand between the sheets to see if she was awake, but a knock on the door interrupted him. _What the hell? _He thought to himself. _Who'd be stupid enough to interrupt me on a Sunday morning? _He grabbed a pair of boxers and a shirt and clambered out of the bed. "Just a second." he snapped as he walked over to the door.

He opened the door just a cack and peered out. "Eliot?" He began, the anger clearly colouring his voice. "What the hell is this all about?"

"Well, we just got our notification about the next battle." He began.

"So?" Miles snapped. "That's a week from now. And even if it is the quater finals, it can wait."

"Yeah, but..." Eliot continued, clearly sounding a little apprehensive. "Its just that I thought that you'd want to see it, given who we're up against."

"What?" He asked.

Eliot nervously handed him a few rolled up sheets. "I printed it off, but I thought you'd want to see it immediately."

"Right..." he took the sheets then slammed the door shut. "Stupid little... why did he think that it was so damned important?" He read over the details of the match; location, time and place all seemed normal to him. _Maybe he got excited because the quarters is where we got to last year. Or maybe he was trying some lame plan to cop an eyeful of Crys. _Then he saw the details of the opponent team.

"Hey babe." Crystal began, clearly having only just woken up. "Why are you out of bed already?"

"Shut up, Crys." He replied. "And get dressed. We need to start planning."

"Wha?" She asked. "But babe, it's Sunday morning. I was hoping we'd.." She trailed off with a pout.

"Later. Right now I have bigger concerns." He stepped out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Passing by Eliot who was still standing in the doorway, he walked into the main living area, and then outside to their back porch. Drake was sitting at the outside table, reading the newspaper. Like Crystal, he'd been hired for his skills and experience, as well as skills he pressed outside the battlefield. Unlike crystal, who's skills were largely limited to a good pair, however, Drake's were useful to the team as a whole. And he would need them right now.

"Morning Miles." He began as he looked up. "Great morning, isn't it?"

"That can wait." Miles replied. "They gave us the details of our quarter finals match."

Drake put down his paper. "Already?"

Miles nodded. "That's why I've gone straight to you, buddy." He continued. "You've got the most experience of all of us. I need you to figure out our strategy."

"Now?" He asked. "I suppose so... but it's a little odd for you to be wanting to start planning this early."

"I want to." He replied as he handed Drake the sheets.

"I see." He commented as he read over the details. "This is a very, very good idea. We should start work immediately."

oOoOo

The Liger Zero X roared in pain as a half dozen red beams tore into its body, slagging the armour on its neck and foreleg, leaving massive gaping wounds that billowed out black smoke. Before it could react, a further four beams sliced through the already damaged armour and continued through the structure, torching the fragile systems inside the Zoid's body. The Zoid collapsed back on its side, clearly out of action.

"Thank god for that." Elisa Claybourne muttered to herself as she wiped her brow. The baking hot temperature inside the cockpit dropped a bit as the Brastle Tiger's heat sinks opened up, trying to vent away some of the massive amounts of heat the Zoid's weapons had built up in the last volley. "Any longer I'd have been cooked along with him. Still... there's another one around..."

She scanned around for any signs of her second opponent, but wasn't having much luck. The mess of concrete and rubble made the battlefield rather cluttered, and the amount of steam pouring off the Brastle Tiger's vents didn't help any. Checking her scope, all she could see was static. _So he's still out there, and probably looking to avenge his buddy, _she thought. _So where is he?_

A burst of cannon fire answered her question for her. A stream of autocannon fire tore across the landscape, smashing through a ruined wall before slamming into the Brastle Tiger's shoulder. Not bothering to look where it was coming from, Elisa opened up the throttle, the massive Zoid jerking into life and leaping out of the way of the enemy fire. The Brastle Tiger broke into a run, its heavy feet crashing down on the ground as it sped away from its attacker.

_So he has to be nearby... _she thought as she glanced around. _There he is! _A bulky, lime-green shape loomed behind a partially destroyed warehouse, smoke rising from the two cannons mounted on its shoulders. The Dark Spiner turned back towards her, trying to keep its cannons aimed at its fast-moving opponent. _Don't want to give him that chance again... _The Brastle tiger was well armoured, but at the same time her battle with the Zero X had left her a little short.

A flick of a switch ion the console saw one of the tiger's side panel's flip out, a small weapon protruding from underneath it. The thermic lance lashed out, a red beam slicing across the landscape and into the Spiner's leg. The enemy Zoid let out a loud warble as it stumbled while turning to keep a bead on her. _That's it... _she thought as she checked the master control panel. _System's almost cooled enough... I can try another big burst and knock him out, but it will be tricky._

A beeping red light on the console suddenly grabbed her attention. "Ah hell, not now!" She snapped, then keyed her mike. "Pause program, master override Clayborne ZBC-Alpha 077." Within seconds of her speaking, the view on the screen froze. "Damnit. I was close."

Elise opened up the simulator pod, then stepped out of it. Almost immediately, she saw the cause of the interruption; Ron McGonagle, one of her fellow ZBC officials, was standing nearby. "Getting a little practice in?" He asked as he looked over her silver, red and blue bodysuit. "That's hardly office wear."

"Very funny." She commented as she grabbed a towel and a water bottle from a nearby rack. "I was doing some quality testing on the simulators, that's all. They handle the Brastle Tiger surprisingly well."

"So I can see." Ron added as she wiped her forehead.

She shook her head and sighed. Ron, who had never been a Zoid pilot, wouldn't understand why she booked regular simulator sessions. While she hadn't been in active competition for years, she liked to keep in practice. And since she couldn't exactly step out of the office to go for a run in her Zoid, the simulators would have to do. The fact that she had, of late, taken to simulating NUBG opponents was just a bonus. "So what's up, Ron?"

"The PKB wanted to speak to you about last week's operation." He began. "Apparently they wanted to discuss a few matters."

"Again?" She replied. "I thought I'd been over all of this before with them."

"Well, they weren't satisfied with the results."

"Great." She shook her head. "So they're still convinced that the leak is coming from the ZBC?"

"It would seem that way." Ron commented. "They figure that it's someone from here that's been feeding the NUBG details, and that the relative failure of the operation was entirely because of that. They site other incidents as their 'proof', most notably the attack on the Urban Arena."

"I suppose so." Elisa replied. "How is that investigation going?"

"Not well." Ron shook his head. "But they're pretty sure that it was someone inside the project." He added, almost defensively.

_Which would mean one of my own staff, _she mentally added. "And what about Schnauzer and Patterson. Did we get anywhere with them?" Two of the Black Hands had been suspended from completion after being positively identified by both the Zoid pilots they'd fought and recovered footage, and were likely to face lifetime bans if their involvement with the NUBG could be proven. Their third member, Kuro Onishi, appeared to not be involved in any way; in fact, he'd sent a resignation from the team to the ZBC while its other two members were still in the battle.

"Not really." He replied. "Patterson is saying that Schnauzer was behind everything and that he was coerced into joining in, while Schnauzer refuses to name his sources."

She couldn't be sure, but he seemed almost relieved at the prospect. "Hey came to see you on the same day as I gave the Broken Chairs and Firestorm their briefing, if I recall." She'd never really liked McGonnagle, and not just because of the fact that he wasn't a Zoid pilot. He always seemed like some sort of an arrogant know-it-all, who acted like his word was law, despite his relatively low rank in the ZBC hierarchy. She'd always suspected that he'd only gotten his job because he knew the right people. Of course, to say as such would be indicative of petty unprofessional jealousy.

He shrugged. "Schnauzer was being his usual, demanding self. He wanted me to change a ruling in his favour."

"And Mychelle?" She asked. The capture of an NUBG pilot had been the only positive outcome of the failed operation.

"Not talking." he replied. "She's acting like a prisoner of war, you know. Name, rank and serial number, but that's it."

"I see." She commented. "I suppose that we can only keep up the investigation and wait for our mole to make a mistake." She finished.

"I suppose so." Ron finished. "Shame that. It'd be good if we could do something about the NUBG. But I guess, for now, we have to live with them."

"I suppose so." She shrugged. "Tell the PKB I'll be ten minutes. That should be enough to get presentable."

oOoOo

Nadia sat on the couch in her team's base, her notepad propped up on her knees. She was supposed to be working on plot ideas and monster stats for the game now that she had more of an idea of what the players (and their characters) were capable of, but it wasn't going well. Instead she'd just ended up scribbling all sorts of garbage all over the pad while drinking all the pop.

"Ah well." She began as she drew another bunch of stick figures on the sheet which vaguely resembled the player characters. Vaguely was the keyword, as she had no idea what Jake's character looked like. But then, she had very little idea about Jake either. As far as she could tell, he made cameo appearances between cigarette breaks.

"Maybe I should just work on the page instead." She commented to herself. Neil, Laura and Akira had all sent in character bios and stats, complete with stolen artwork to use as illustrations. _I should start setting them up_, she figured. _It'd be better then doing more pointless monster stats. Maybe they can just fight the Short Bus Orcs again._

The phone next to the couch rang, monetarily starling her. Dropping the notepad, she grabbed the phone form its cradle. "Iron Giants team, Nadia here." She began in a cheery voice.

"Nadia?" The voice on the other end of the line began. "Can I speak to Jeroen, please?"

"Uh… right." She began. "Who should I say it is?"

There was a pause, as if the man on the other end didn't really want to answer her. "Tell him it's Gregor."

"Gregor, right." She commented. She immediately figured him to be Gregor Berkut, the leader of the Golden Eagles. Their two teams had clashed a number of times in the past, with a virtually equal win-loss ratio. She'd been surprised when the Eagles had been beaten by Neil's team; it was quite an achievement for a supposed rookie team. Still, it was unusual for Gregor to call directly. The teams had almost no interaction outside the ZBC. "Just a minute."

She put her hand over the receiver. "Hey Jeroen! There's a call for ya!" She yelled out. "Some guy called Gregor; I think it's the Golden Eagles guy."

Jeroen Nacht, the leader of the Iron Giants, entered a minute later. A huge, heavily built man, he dwarfed Nadia. "Sure." He muttered as he took the phone.

"No probs." She replied, then picked up her note pad. "Anytime."

"Gregor, it's me." He began. "What's up?" He wandered around the room as he listened, Nadia watching him. "What was that? She's back?"

This sounded interesting. Nadia pretended to hide behind her notepad as she listened in. "I mean, did she actually say anything or just, well, you know…" He paused. "I see." There was another long pause, followed by Jeroen checking his watch. "Well, I suppose so. Give me about half an hour then."

He hung up the phone and handed it back to Nadia. "I'm going out for about an hour or so. You're in charge until I get back."

"Well sure." She muttered. "Something up?"

"Nothing at all." He replied as he picked up his coat. She found that odd, as it was rather warm outside. "I'll just be a while, that's all."

"Right." She finished as he left. "That made no sense at all." Nadia mulled over things for a few minutes. "Still, being in charge does give me an excuse to hog system resources, so that's not too bad."

oOoOo

"You know." Tasch commented as the Chairs walked towards the main arena. "This place is always big to me. No mater how many times I come here, it always seems huge."

"That's probably because it is huge." Rose replied.

"Yeah, that would be it." She finished. "But... gee, it's really big, ain't it? We ain't got nothing like tis back home."

"Where do you guys have your Zoid battles then?" Stephen asked.

"In arenas, yeah, but they're smaller and they're recessed into the ground rather then sticking out of it."

"There ya go." Neil finished as they walked into the arena. After passing through the security check, the team descended into the depths of the arena towards the team preparation areas. Today the place was seemingly crawling with technicians as the teams were going over everything they needed for the battles, making sure that nothing went wrong. At this stage of the competition, there were no second chances. Teams that lost today would not be progressing any further this year, so for many there was a need to get everything right.

"Hey Neil!" A voice called out as they walked towards their hanger. Turning around, he could see Nadia sticking her head out of a nearby doorway. "Good to see ya."

"You too." he replied, breaking away from the rest ofr the team. "Um, I guess I should say good luck and all that for today."

"Uh, thanks." He replied with a nervous grin. "And you too. I mean, we're not fighting each other this round-" (Something that he was privately thankful for at least every fifteen minutes) "-but all the best and stuff."

"Thanks Neil." She finished with a smile. "And regardless of what happens, we've got another game this Tuesday if you're cool with that."

"Sure thing." He nodded, then scurried back to the team. "See ya!" He caught up with them as they were heading to the hanger.

"Who was that, Neil?" Rose needled.

"One of the Iron Giants, actually." He replied, a smug tone in his voice.

"You actually know one of them?" She sounded more then a little incredulous.

"Oh sure." He continued. "Some days it pays to have geek hobbies like mine."

"Did they offer any tips?" She narrowed her eyes. "I mean, they are one of the most insanely successful teams ever."

"Yeah. Stand away from the Elephander." He finished.

"Very useful." They rounded a corner heading towards their hanger, which for some reason of random allocation was at the far end of the stadium. The door was secured with a swipe card and key combination, just to prevent anyone from entering the hanger without the permission of the team using it. While the ZBC was a rather honest competition, there was still the temptation to some to do whatever it took to get ahead.

As Stephen keyed in the combination, he was interrupted by a nearby cough. As one, the team turned to see Miles standing nearby, a smug grin on his face. Eliot and Crystal were standing behind him, the latter beaming smugly, while the former was looking at Miles as if he was waiting for instructions. "Well hey there, Chesterton." Miles began. "Funny seeing you here."

"And why wouldn't I be?" He replied slowly.

"Well, you know... the odds of you making it this far were rather remote." He continued. "What with you all being amateurs and that."

Stephen noted the use of 'amateur' instead of 'rookie' and tried not to rise to it. "Well, maybe we're just better then our experience would indicate." He continued. "And it's not unknown for rookies to reach the quarter finals. And who knows... there's one ZBC champion who won the title in her rookie year."

"Yeah, but it's never happened in the team competition." Miles continued. "So I guess that puts you at pretty long odds."

"Is there a reason for this, or do you jut like hearing your own voice?" Neil asked.

"If it was, then he could just make a tape of himself and play it back." Tasch commented. "That way he wouldn't have to keep talkin' all the time."

"Nice call." Neil finished, and smiled. "So what is it then?"

"Well, you know." Miles continued, apparently not taken back. "I just came here to see how you guys were doing and all. I mean, you guys are the miracle team, the ones who have beaten it all... so far."

"Well, I see no reason for us to stop." Rose added. "I mean, even you would have to admit that we've done well so far."

"Well, yeah..." He replied. "Especially with the little... problem you guys have had this year. I guess I could say that you guys have been really, really lucky." He smiled. "But luck isn't everything."

"Yeah." Rose replied. "There's also talent, skill, experience, planning, coordination, teamwork..."

"And we've done an awful lot in those areas." Stephen replied. "In fact, I'd say that our planning and tactics have pulled us through more often then any other single attribute."

"And that's pretty good, given that we didn't know each other much beforehand." Tasch added. "In fact, its better then a lotta more experienced teams in some ways. Well, at least in that we've managed to beat them, I suppose."

"Like what was that one team, we fought?" Neil commented. "Oh yeah, the Firestorm team. We beat them pretty handily."

"Yeah... well." Miles replied, suddenly a lot less smug.

"What Miles means," Crystal added, stepping past him. "Is that today only the best ands fairest will win, and there's no place for losers." She continued. She smiled smugly, sticking her ample (and clearly cosmetically enhanced) chest out. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that both Rose and Tasch were somewhat noticeably taller then her.

"...but not those who artificially, uh, augment themselves?" Neil finished, all but giggling to himself. "This is all about natural talent, not about, uh, inflated capabilities. You gotta go with what nature gives you and-"

"Okay Neil." Rose elbowed him. "We get the point."

"So are you guys going to keep lingering like a bad smell or are you going to get to it?" Stephen asked. "I, for one, have work to get to. If you want to stand around in the hall, fine." He swiped the card and re-entered his security code. "Coming guys?"

"Sure thing." Neil finished. "I think I'm going to be sick if I stand here any longer. Probably silicone poisoning."

"But they don't use silicone anymore in br-" Tasch began.

"Yeah, I know." He finished, cutting her off. "But work with me." He stepped inside, Tasch following him.

Rose glanced at Miles. "Well, you know, guys." She finished. "I'd like to think that it hadn't been all bad so far. I mean, the NUBG had to be good for some extra experience. You should try it some time."

"Wait a second. Rose." Another voice butted in. She turned to see Drake standing om the other side of the hallway to the rest of the team.

"What do you want?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I just wanted to wish you all the best for the battle." He replied a sincere tone in his voice. The filthy look Crystal was giving him seemed to reinforce this fact.

"Uh, thanks." She replied, a little surprised. "Yeah." She slipped inside, and closed the door behind her.

oOoOo

"Welcome back folks to the ZBC arena." Henry J. Urgleflogger enthusiastically called out. "For those of you just joining us, I'm Henry J Urgleflogger and I'm here today, as always, with Jim Beef."

"Thank you Henry." Jim replied as he looked over the arena from the reinforced fortified commentator's booth. "And it has been a fantastic day here at the arena. We've just had a great match between the Red Knights and the Blue Destiny. Both teams did really well, and I think that both sides must be happy about the battle, regardless of the outcome."

"Still, you've got to admit that it's always better to be on the winning team." Henry continued. "And I know where I'd rather be."

"At any rate," Jim continued, cutting off his announce partner. "Our next battle promises to be a truly stellar one, and is easily one of the most anticipated battles of this season. Two of the best teams that I've seen in years will be facing off for a place in the semi-finals round. For these two, everything is on the line here today."

"I'll say. At this end of the season, the competition always gets very fierce. And these are two teams that we've seen to have a somewhat strong rivalry." Henry continued.

"I'll say that much, Henry." Jim replied. "If I'm right - and I usually am - then we could be seeing a classic battle here today."

The doors at one end of the stadium opened up, a quartet of Zoids walking put onto the arena floor. Three of the four Zoids were bipedal in shape, while the fourth was quadrupedal. "Entering first we have the new and improved Firestorm team, one of this season's greatest success stories." Henry began.

"You could say that." Jim continued. "The Firestorm team made it to the quarter finals last year before suffering a devastating, one-sided defeat at the hands of the Iron Giants. In the aftermath of that battle, two of the team members unexpectedly quit which seemed to have finished them off for sure. However, they've come back this season, stronger then ever before."

"They've certainly been one of the teams to beat this year." Henry continued. "While their near perfect win rate would be enough for most people, they've managed to go one better. During the course of the year, they've managed to get through just about every battle without loosing more then a single Zoid, if even that."

"To date, the Firestorm team have only been defeated once this year." Jim added. "And that was a close run thing."

"What surprises me is that while the Firestorm team have done so well, the former members of the team haven't been so flash hot. You have to wonder if they'd have been better off staying where they were."

Jim watched as the team spread out, the Death Raser in the middle, with the Arosaurer and Parablade on either side of it. The Koenig Wolf, however, remained behind it for the moment. "But then," Jim added, "you have to wonder how well the Firestorm team would have done without its reinvigorated line-up."

The doors at the other end of the stadium opened up, allowing the second team to enter the arena. "And here's there opponents, this year's so-called dream team, the Broken Chairs." Jim continued. "If ever there was a definition of the ZBC success story, then this is it."

"Well, it's not over yet, Jim." Henry offered. "True success is going from rookie to champion in one year. Only one person has ever done it, and never a whole team."

"Well, if any team was to be the ones to do it, then it would be this team." Jim continued. "A quartet of rank rookies who had never been in a real Zoid battle before, all young and enthusiastic warriors finding their way. Together, they have formed one of the most successful rookie teams in the history of the ZBC. In their whole season, they have not suffered a single defeat, despite several close calls."

"And let's not forget several run-ins with a certain other, illegal Zoid battle organisation." Henry added.

"It's a tribute to their skill and determination that not only have they managed to face off against those criminals on several occasions, but that thy have managed to triumph over them in ach case." Jim continued. "But I think that it's more fitting to focus on their successes on the field in the real world of Zoids battles. In each and every one of their battles they have been successful. No matter what the challenge they have faced, they have managed to overcome it."

"And yet, the closest they've ever come to loosing was against the Firestorm team." Henry added. "We know that the Firestormers were smarting over their close loss to the chairs early in the season. It'd be interesting to see how this battle plays out."

"As I said, I think that this one will be a true classic, one for the history books, Henry." Jim finished. "Folks, trust me when I say that you do not want to miss this one."

The ZBC monitor drone flew over the arena, taking its place in the centre of the field between the two teams, ready to give the signal to begin.

oOoOo

Miles Slate sat in the cockpit of his Death Raser, glaring at the team at the far end of the arena. All his planning, all he had done, all the work he had put into rebuilding his team had all come down to this one moment. While he knew that it was far from the end of the season, he also knew that this one battle would be probably the most important. They didn't just need to defeat this team to continue into the semis. They needed to defeat this team for his pride.

To say that their defeat at the hands of the Broken Chairs had upset him would be an understatement. It wasn't just that he had lost; no, it was that his team had been defeated by a bunch of rank amateurs, people who he should have been able to easily sweep aside. The Firestorm Team, his team, should have easily dispatched them and effortlessly advanced into the next round.

As it stood, their loss had set them back quite a way. They'd only made it this far on competition points, and only then because they'd managed to win every battle since by a fair margin. A single defeat, or a narrow victory, would have been enough to ruin everything. And while they'd made it, it was nowhere near as comfortable as he'd wanted.

The simple fact was that miles hated to loose. To him, the victory was always the thing, regardless of what he had to do to get it. He had to win, had to prove his own superiority and what he was capable of. To him, anyone who said that winning wasn't everything was a looser or a quitter who just made excuses. To him, second place was a mark of shame, not an achievement.

To this end, he'd done everything he could legally do to further his own team's chances during the season. Hiring Drake had been his first move, securing his team a skilled free agent who had done so much for them so far. But it wasn't enough. He had to have the win for himself.

That's what annoyed him the most about his team's one defeat. If he'd been the last one standing, then it would have been more tolerable. But to sit by and watch as the team went down, his own Zoid already disabled was too much for him.

But this time would be different. This time he was ready for everything they could throw at him. "Okay guys." He began over the team's channel as he watched the drone take up position. "You know the plan. Let's go."

oOoOo

"You know what?" Tasch began as she waited for the battle to start. "When I got here, I had no idea that I'd be here."

"Say what?" Neil asked.

"This place." She explained. "It ain't been anything like what I expected it to be."

"How so?" He continued.

"I didn't know what I was gonna do or what would happen." She explained. "Heck, I'd just been travelin' and then I decided that I was gonna give the Zoid warrior thing a try. So I saved up and trained real hard and, well, this is where I ended up." She nodded to herself. "I didn't figure I'd be in a team or that I'd do so well."

"But you have." Rose commented. "It's been a strange season."

"Yeah. I never expected that I'd end up fighting the NUBG." Tasch continued. "But then, if I'd expected it, then I wouldn't have ended up fighting 'em because I'd be expecting 'em and I'd avoid them."

"That… that makes a bizarre amount of sense." Neil commented. "I'll admit that I had no real plans either. I was gonna drop in and see what happened and, if I ended up with more victories then losses in my first year, I'd count myself lucky. Or I would have latched onto a team and seen where things went from there."

"That's a very ambitious plan." Rose quipped.

"It's a realistic one." He admitted. "I mean, I didn't have a famous older sister or anything."

"Yeah… it's a lot of pressure, having famous siblings." Rose admitted. "I'd been planning to look for a team from day one. I… I knew that I couldn't do anywhere near as well as Violet had in my first year, so I figured that I'd be a bit more realistic and try it as a team."

"Well, you've done pretty good so far." Neil added. "A lot better then I have, in many ways."

"Thanks." She smiled. "You've been pretty decent so far yourself."

"I try." He replied.

"Yeah..." Tasch spoke up. "All up, y'all have been pretty cool. An' sure as heck yer the best buhcha pilots I've ever hung around with an' the best team I've ever been in. Well, okay, so I ain't been in any others, but if I had, I'm sure you'd be the best."

"Now that's a compliment." Neil smirked. "Or something."

"Yeah..." Tasch finished. "Just a shame it had to be such a bright, clear day today. I was going it'd be a little nicer."

"I hate to break this up, guys." Stephen interrupted. "But the battle is about to begin. And as nice as it is to reminisce..."

"We can do it after we've kicked their arses." Rose finished. "Lets go."

oOoOo

"The Broken Chairs versus the Firestorm Team." The electronic voice of the judge drone began as it hovered over the middle of the arena. "Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!"

Both teams leaped into action the instant the fight began. Tasch's Redler was the first to respond, taking to the air as the other Zoids took off form their mark. Neil and Rose followed behind her, while Stephen's Iron Kong stood its ground. The members of the Firestorm team similarly broke into an open run, scattering as they headed downfield towards their opponents.

The Firestorm team had a similar idea, charging forwards towards their opponents. As one, however, the Zoids suddenly swapped course, all veering towards a single opponent at once. As one, the Firestorm Zoids opened fire with a volley of missiles and cannon fire, all directed at a single target.

"What in the heck!" Tasch shouted out as she twisted the controls around as the wave of enemy fire headed straight for her Zoid. The Redler tried to slew out of the way, but she was simply unprepared for the amount of fire that was directed at her. A volley of shots smashed into the Zoid, hammering into its flanks and wings, tearing through the armour and systems.

"I'm losin' it!" She called out as the Redler spun in the air, its flank and wing a mess of burning wreckage. The Zoid slammed hard into the ground on its belly, skidding along before coming to a halt on the far side of the arena. "Ah... heck."

"Tasch!" Neil called out. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." She replied. "But... but I'm outa action. Sorry about that guys."

"No need to apologise." Stephen added. "And don't worry. We'll get them for you." The remaining members of the Chairs charged past their downed team-mate, heading straight for the enemy line.

Miles smiled, and then laughed to himself as he saw the Redler hit the ground, clearly out of action. Things had gone just as he'd hoped, which looked good for the rest of the team. Their plan was simple; knock the Redler out of action first. He'd figured on it after going over the Chairs' past battles. The Redler's pilot was the most unpredictable and dangerous one on their team, and had in past managed to pull off some seemingly insane moves to snatch a victory at the last moment. Added to the fact that the Firestorm team didn't normally have their own airborne Zoids, which made her more dangerous.

That she had been the one who had cost his team the victory against the Broken Chairs the first time round had only been more of an incentive.

"Right guys, let's take them down." He grinned. "Show these armatures what real pilots can do." The Death Raser roared as it charged forwards, the wings crackling as plasma energy played across them. Looking over the enemy team, Miles kept his sights on the Iron Kong that had caused him so much trouble in past. "And you, my friend, are all mine." He added to himself. It was getting good... he could almost taste the victory now.

Crystal's Arosaurer fired its boosters, springing downfield towards the enemy team, its jaws open in anticipation of tearing into one of them. Behind her, Drake's Koenig Wolf opened fire with its twin rifles, trying to keep the enemy team pinned down so that thy could close in. One of Firestorm's few drawbacks was that their Zoids were orientated a bit more towards close combat; however, he'd figured a few ways around things.

The Iron Kong took a couple of rifle shots in the chest, but seemed to effortlessly shrug them off. The huge Zoid shifted, then turned and charged towards its attackers, the ground shaking under the impact of its massive fists and feet. The Hyperbeam cannon fired once, a single brilliant beam tearing across the battlefield and striking Crystal's Zoid dead in the chest. The force of the blast literally tossed the Arosaurer off its feet, slamming it back-first into the ground, a massive, smoking hole torn through it. The Zoid let out a weak gurgle as it lay there, clearly out of action.

"Crystal, you okay?" He called out.

"Of course I'm not okay!" She yelled back. "I'm out of action, Miles! I wanted to win this one!"

"Sit tight, sweet cakes." He replied. "Daddy will make it all better for ya." _And it means that there will be one less of us to share the competition points, _he mentally added. While Crystal being knocked out so early was detrimental to his plan, at the same time he could see that there was an upside to it. He smiled smugly, then opened fire with the Raser's chest cannons on the enemy Zoid.

The Iron Kong again seemed to ignore the hit, but not the source of the attack. The Zoid opened fire with the cluster of short-range missiles in its shoulder, sending them straight at his Zoid. He yanked the controls around, trying to twist out of the line of the enemy Zoid's fire. He was partially successful; several of the rockets streaked past him, while a couple more slammed into his side.

Miles was shaken inside the cockpit, but quickly recovered. Looking over the status board, he could see that the shots had damaged his armour, but hadn't penetrated it. Smiling to himself, he looked at the enemy Zoid. "So... is that the best you can do?" He asked his opponent. "Stupid amateur. I should show you how a real pro handles things!"

The Death Raser snarled as it once again charged forwards, lunging at its larger opponent.

oOoOo

Rose twisted around the controls, the liger Zero twisting and weaving as a volley of missiles from the Koenig Wolf streaked towards her Zoid. The agile Liger leaped out of the way of the first two, but caught the other three square on in the shoulder. "Come on..." She began. "Don't quit on me allready. Its too early to be giving up." The Zoid stumbled for a moment, but managed to regain its footing before charging forwards again.

She would have readily admitted that she was thrown by the Firestorm Team's tactics. The four of them opening fire on Tasch was rather unexpected and., to her mind, a little unfair. But then, she also figured, there was nothing in the rules against it. _What was it that dad said? _She thought. _There's no such thing as 'unfair'. It's called 'using whatever advantage you can get.' _And she could easily see what advantage the Firestorm team had gotten from their little surprise move. _Knocking Tasch out straight away would be a big boost to them, _she thought. _Well, lets see if we can't tilt the odds a bit._

The Liger charged forwards, heading straight for the Enemy Koenig Wolf. The blue Zoid opened fire with its rifles, aiming to put her down as quickly as possible. Twisting the controls., rose managed to leap out of the path of the worst of it; a few of the shots grazed the armour, but that was the limit of the damage. _Okay... let's take this guy out. _Going straight after the Koenig Wolf was a calculated risk; she knew that Drake was easily the best pilot of the enemy team, and that his Zoid could almost match hers in close combat. At the same time, however, she knew that she was the one with the best shot at taking him down quickly.

Besides, she had her own personal reasons. "No date of mine is going to go around snogging another guy behind my back." She added, then launched to herself. It seemed petty, but at the same time, it was al the motivation she needed to take him down.

Her Zoid roared as she opened fire with the impact cannon on the rapidly closing opponent. One shot struck its shoulder, blasting into the armoured foreleg. It wasn't enough to seriously effect the enemy Zoid, but at the same time it was enough to throw him of for a moment and give her the chance that she needed. Opening up the boosters, she charged forwards, bearing down on the enemy Zoid as it tried to recover from the shots. Rose squeezed the trigger again, another pair of blasts striking it as she closed in.

_Let's finish this now! _She said to herself as the Zero surged forwards, leaping at the Wolf, its claws glowing with built up energy, scything through the air at the enemy machine. Drake was ready for her, however, the Koenig Wolf ducking under her charge at the last possible moment. The Zero passed over the Zoid by centimetres, the claws only narrowly missing slicing into its armoured hide.

Rose came down on the far side of the Wolf, trying to recover as quickly as possible. _Think quick! Don't make yourself a target! _She opened fire on the enemy Zoid with her tail gun, a pair of shots striking into the Zoid's flank. As the Wolf yelped out in pain and surprise, she wheeled around the controls for another pass on the enemy Zoid.

Drake reacted faster then she'd expected, bringing his rifles to bear in her Zoid as it ran and opening fire. Several shots slammed into the Zero's side, knocking it off-balance and causing it to skid on the arena floor. As she tried to recover, the Koenig Wolf used the opportunity to charge forwards, heading straight for her Zoid with a feral snarl.

The Wolf lashed out with its own claws, slicing down at the Liger in an attempt to knock it out of action. Rose recovered at the last second, the Zero twisting away from the enemy machine's path. Instead, the claws came down and sliced through the Liger's shoulder armour, tearing through the panel covering the shoulder. The shredded armour crashed to the ground as she fought with the controls, trying to bring the Zoid around before Drake could strike again.

"Guys!" She called out over the communicator. "I've got the Wolf pinned down here. If you're going to try something, this is a great chance!"

The Koenig Wolf snarled and rushed forwards, moving in for the kill. She twisted way from it, then sliced at it again with the claws. This time, Rose was more successful. The Strike Laser Claws returned the injury her own Zoid had suffered, cleaving through the armour and the two empty missile bins on the Zoid's shoulder and tearing them apart. The Wolf let out a loud yowl of pain, staggering back as her Zoid advanced on it.

"Okay... now I've got you good." She began as she prepared to strike again. "This time-" She was cut off as a shot struck her Zoid from behind, causing it to stumble and sending her flying forwards in her seat. The harnesses grabbed her and slammed her back, shaken and bruised but not seriously harmed. "What the hell?"

Glancing around, she could see what had happened. The Parablade was charging towards her Zoid, honking loudly as it charged and prepared for another assault. Before it could fire, however, a volley of shots ripped into the ground around it as well as its legs and body. Changing course, the Parablade dashed away, Neil's Gunsniper chasing after it as it ran.

"Sorry about that!" Neil called out. "Slippery little beggar tried to get away from me. Won't happen again!"

Rose turned back to her primary target, only to be greeted by a pair of shots form the Wolf's cannons that slammed into her Liger's chest. Left off-balance buy the attack, she was completely unprepared for Drake's next move. The Koenig Wolf slammed into her Zoid, half pouncing and half crashing into it. The Koneig Wolf bore her machine down, smashing it into the ground, truing to pin it down with its claws. The Zoid snarled, its fangs cracking with electricity in preparation of finishing her off.

"No way!" She called back. The Liger rolled over, one of its legs coming up and smacking into the side of the Koenig Wolf's neck. The impact threw the enemy Zoid off, giving her a chance to act. The Zero swiped at the Wolf, the claws only narrowly missing the Zoid's leg, but causing it to step back, if only for a moment.

Seeing a chance, Rose drove the Liger forward, the Zoid snarling in anger at its attacker. It lunged froewards, snapping with its jaws at the enemy Zoid. The wolf narrowly twisted out of the way of her strike, then swiped at her Zoid. The blow strick the liger on the side of the neck, again knocking it off balance.

Rose fired the boosters again running out of the way of the enemy Zoid before it could strike again. She fired off the tail gun, but his time Drake was ready for it, the Wolf managing to evade the shots. Chasing after her Zoid, he opened fire agin with the twin rifles. The shots slammed into the back of the Liger, causing it to stumble and collapse onto the arna floor. Rose was again thrown forwards, momentarily stunned by the blow.

"Ah hell..." She began as she tried to clear her head. "Come on... get up already." She pulled back on the control stick, but the Liger seemed to be rather slow and sluggish. "Not now... not..." Before the Zoid could respond, a massive force smashed into the back of it, sending it again smashing to the ground. Glancing over the monitors, she could see what it was; the Koneig Wolf had leaped on her and was again pinning her Zoid down.

There was an ear-shattering shriek of metal as the wolf dug its teeth into the Liger's neck, followed by a sudden loud crackle that filled the cockpit. Lights flickered and dimmed on the various displays as the Wolf pupped energy through its fangs into the Liger's systems, shorting them out in an effort to diable the Zoid. "No!" She shouted as she grabbed the control stick. "Come on... don't fail me now..." The Zero struggled to its feet for a moment, then collapsed, clearly out of action.

"Crap." She muttered, looking up at the Koenig Wolf. "Damn him."

oOoOo

Drake looked down at the Liger Zero, wanting to make sure that the Zoid was completely out of action before he continued. He'd seen warriors 'play dead' before, and wasn't about to fall for it now, especially not at such a crucial juncture. The enemy machine certainly seemed to be out of action; it was flat on the ground, its legs sprawled out with smoke rising form a number of its vents where its systems had overheated and shut down from his attack.

"That seems to be it, then." He commented, at last satisfied that the enemy Zoid was out of action. _That was a lot closer then I'd expected, _he mentally added. _She's clearly got a lot of talent and potential, and will be one to watch in future. But for now, I have other concerns._

He turned to look over the battlefield, analysing the situation. He could see that Miles' Death Raser was facing off with the enemy Iron Kong, the two Zoids engaging in a rather bizarre battle, pitting speed and manoeuvrability against sheer strength and endurance, one that neither pilot seemed to be winning. Obviously he'd have to do something about that if the Firestorm team wanted to win the battle.

Checking over his systems, he could see that he had expended all but one of his missile pods, and had already burned off nearly half the rifle ammo. While his Zoid's armour was badly damaged in places, none of its systems were damaged as yet. This meant that he would be in a prime position to influence the outcome of the battle.

The Wolf hopped away from the Liger, trotting over to get a clearer look at the Iron Kong. He again deployed the rifles and activated the seekers for the remaining missiles. At the moment, the enemy Zoid had its back to him, which made things just that extra bit easier. He dropped the targeting sights onto the massive Zoidm and lined up a shot on its thruster pack. If he could get this right, then he'd be able to take out one of its biggest single assets.

Before he could fire, however, there was a warning beep from his sensors. He glanced around, only to be thrown off as a series of loud explosions tore into his Zoid. Drake was slammed into the side of the cockpit as the Koneig Wolf was struck in the side and sent crashing to the ground, collapsing in a battered heap. Checking over his status board, he could see that the Zoid's neck had been torn into, while the exposed shoulder had been ripped apart.

"What the-" He began, but was cut off as more shots struck the Zoid, smashing into its damaged flank. Red lights came over the status board as system after system failed. The Zoid bucked for a moment under the force of the impact, then lay still, clearly out of action.

A moment later, a shadow passed over the cockpit as the enemy Gunsniper leaped over his Zoid. Seconds later, Eliot's Parablade ran after it, trying to catch the fleeing enemy Zoid. Drake smiled to himself as he realised what happened; the Gunsniper had taken him out, likely by simply unloading everything it had into him and point-blank range. "Huh." He said to himself. "Not bad work at all. Maybe I've underestimated him."

He sat back in the cockpit and stretched out. All he could do now was wait and watch.

oOoOo

The Death Raser hissed, then lunged forwards, its wings crackling with blue energy as it charged. Stephen was ready for it, however, and twisted the Iron Kong out of its way as it charged. The Raser passed by him, its wings still slicing into the Zoid's body and scoring armour off the chest as it run. However, looking over the status board, Stephen could see that it was just a small gash, rather then the killing blow that the enemy pilot had wanted.

The Kong swung around, bringing down its massive fist on the enemy Zoid. The Raser was largely out of the way of the attack, but still was caught in the side of the rigid tail. The force of the blow caused the enemy Zoid to skid across the arena, its claws scratching on the concrete floor as its pilot fought the force of the blow. Seeing a chance, he wheeled around the Zoid, opening fire with the grenade launcher mounted on the Kong's forearm.

The four rocket-propelled grenades shot out, slamming into the enemy Zoid's flank at near point-blank range. The shots blasted into its armour, sending the Zoid skidding further away and sending chunks of debris flying. Despite this, it seemed to have escaped any serious harm from the attack.

"Not for too much longer, though." He muttered to himself. With a loud roar, the Kong charged forewords, swinging its fists down at the enemy Zoid. The Death Raser's pilot managed to collect himself at the last moment, however, the Zoid suddenly leaping away as the Kong swing downwards, its fists instead smashing into the concrete arena floor which cracked under the blow. The enemy Zoid, however, was already running away, tearing across the battlefield at speed.

Opening up the throttle, Stephen set after him, the Iron Kong barrelling along at full tilt in pursuit of its smaller opponent. However, it quickly became clear to him that he was not going to catch it; the enemy Zoid was nearly twice as fast as his was, and had a much higher acceleration. Not wanting to let it escape, however, he opened fire with the hyperbeam cannon at the fleeing Zoid.

The shot narrowly missed the Death Raser, which leaped away form the blast and instead headed for the wall. It then bounced back, landing solidly on the arena floor before charging back at his Zoid. The back mounted lasers and discharger fired, the shots scoring into the Iron Kong's bulky chest and burning away some of the armour. The blow didn't stop it, however, the two machines closing in on each other at speed.

Stephen returned fire with the pulse cannon, the shots bouncing off the Death Raser's sloped armour with seemingly no effect. The enemy Zoid replied by suddenly leaping into the air, then coming down at the Kong with its massive foreclaws extended. Stephen bought up the right forearm at the last possible moment, swinging it straight at the enemy Zoid's chest. There was a bone-jarring crunch as the fist struck the Death Raser, killing its momentum dead in the air and instead sending it reeling back.

The enemy pilot recovered, however, the Death Raser surging forwards at the Iron Kong to strike again. The Zoid slashed at his with its claws, raking them across the Iron Kong's chest. Before it could strike again, however, the Iron Kong's massive thrusters fired, the huge Zoid lifting into the air on a cloud of smoke and flames. The Kong's flight took it out of the way of the Death Raser, instead neatly putting it down on the other side of the field.

Stephen levelled his sights at the Death Raser, trying to get a clean shot at it as the Zoid charged towards him. However, before he could fire, the Zoid was ricked by a pair of hits to its flank. Glancing around, he could see the enemy Parablade dashing away, Neil's Gunsniper chasing after it. "Sorry about that!" Neil called out. "This guy is aobut as slippery as it comes."

The attack hadn't done any serious damage to the Iron Kong, but it had allowed the Death Raser a chance to close in on him. The enemy Zoid again swiped at him, its wing slicing into the Iron Kong's thick arm. Stephen pulled his Zoid out of the way, then swiped at the Death Raser, managing to club it in the side. The Raser staggered back, then found its footing, lashing out with the claws at his Zoid. He agin fired the boosters, leaping out of the Raser's path.

_This is stupid, _Stephn thought to himself. _Neither of us can get a clear advantage up close. His ranged weapons can barely hurt me, and his armour's deflecting off my pulse cannon... and the hyperbeam cannon is too big to use in close combat._

The Iron Kong settled down, then opened fire with the Hyperbeam cannon on the enemy Zoid. The Raser narrowly dodged the shot, instead running at him for another charge. _There's got to be someway to deal with this guy!_

oOoOo

Miles was thinking the same thing as he closed in on the Iron Kong. He'd been having very little luck in close combat, and he knew that the Electron Cannon wasn't going to stop the Kong on its own. With Drake down, however, he knew that his Zoid was the only one that stood a chance of taking it out. And even then, it was far from a sure thing. Unless...

There was one optipon, one that he'd rather not use simply becuse it would reduce his share of the points. However, at the moment, it seemed like he'd have to take that chance if he wanted the team to win this battle. And to his mind, he was willing to sacrifice a few points in the name of a win. While he'd have less personal glory now, he could bask in the long-term outcome.

"Eliot!" He called out. "I need you, now!"

"But the Gunsniper's still-" Eliot began.

"God damn it, just do it!" He shouted over the communicator.

"Sure... right away." Eliot replied, a nervous tone in his voice. "I'll be right with you!"

The Parablade fired off its two railguns at the Gunsniper, then honked loudly as it roared up and tossed its haid into the air. The Gunsnipoer's pilot twisted his Zoid around, narrowly dodging the two blasts, but was not ready for what came next. The Parablade's head blade scythed through the air, spinning at the enemy Zoid. The blade sliced through one of the Gundsniper's legs, shearing off a chink of structure and knocking the Zoid on its back.

"Good work there, boy." He grinned. "Now let's go!"

The two Zoids broke into a run, heading towards the centre of the arena. The boosters on the Death Raser's back opened up and fired, propelling the Zoid into the air.In front of it, the Parablade also leaped up, its body seemingly exploding into peices in front of the larger Zoid. Sections of the Death Raser's body and structure slid back and re-arranged themselves as parts of the Parablade's body combined with it. The smaller Zoids' hind legs connected to the Death Raser's forearms, while its tail to the end of the Raser's tail. Finally, the Parablade's body and cockpit slid over the Death Raser's, covering it with a completely new head module, betraying its new form.

The Dekault Dragon bellowed as it completed its merger, then swooped down at the Iron Kong. In the cockpit, Miles grinned with anticipation, Eliot now seated behind him. "And now..." He began. "See the true power of the Firestorm team!"

The fuzed Zoid swooped down on the Iron Kong, opening fire with the combined weapons of the two Zoids. The shots tore into the enemy Zoid's armour, causing it to momentarily stager back. The Dragon rolled over, bellowing as it dived on the enemy Zoid, its clawed wings outstretched for the kill. It swooped down on the Kong, the other Zoid only just managing to move out of its way before it struck. Despite that, the blow struck home, ripping through the Kong's left shoulder and tearing it apart. The massive Zoid staggered, clearly damaged by the attack.

Miles grinned, then laughed to out loud. He didn't care any more about the points, or the fact that he'd be sharing them with Eliot. What mattered now was that he was winning, and that there was very little that his enemies could do about it.

oOoOo

Stephen grimaced at the damage done to his Zoid as he checked over the displays. The left shoulder had been all but torn apart, nearly costing his Zoid the whole limb. The only consolidation he could see was that he'd already used the missiles in the launcher before it was destroyed, which made him feel a bit better. Propping the Iron Kong up on its good arm, he tried to follow the course of the enemy Zoid.

"Neil!" He called out over the communicator. "How are you doing over there?"

"Not too good." He replied. "My right leg's bunk, so I can barely move. And I don't have a single weapon that I can readily use that will even scratch that thing. Yourself?"

"More or less the same." He grunted. "And that thing..."

"I see it." Neil commented. "Any ideas?"

The Dekault Dragon circled around, roaring loudly as it passed overhead. "That's going to be a real problem."

"You know." Neil began. "I should have expected them to so something like that. Makes ya wonder why they didn't."

"Who knows. But we'll figure that out later." He finished. "I'm going to try and bring it down to the level, see if we can even the odds a bit." The Dekault Dragon wheeled around, then began to again dive towards the Iron Kong, opening fire with its array of weapons. The railguns slammed into the Zoid's chest, ripping into the already damaged armour, while the other shots further scored the Zoid's body.

Stephen managed to bring the left arm up and opened fire with the pulse cannon, spraying shots at the Fuzor as it dived towards him. The rounds bounced harmlessly off its body, however, with no clear effect on the Zoid. Screeching loudly the dragon again rolled and dived at the Kong. With a flash of blue energy, its wings tore into the Zoid's body, raking across the its back. As the dragon pulled up, it ripped free one of the manoeuvre vanes from the Zoid's back.

The Iron Kong staggered, then began to topple backwards. Grabbing the controls, Stephen was able to prop the damaged Zoid up on its good arm before it fell, then actually steady it. Keeping his eyes on the enemy Zoid, he dropped his sights onto it. "Okay, you've had your chance." He snarled. "Now for some payback."

There was a sudden burst of flame as the two twin-stage missiles leaped from the Zoid's back, soaring into the air. The two missiles raced towards the retreating Zoid, rapidly closing in on it. The Dekault Dragon opened up its engines, trying to outrun the missiles, but it was clear that there would be no escape. Stephen watched in anticipation, knowing that it wouldn't be too long now.

Before the missiles could strike home, however, the Dekault dragon twisted and rolled over in the air, turning away from the missiles. Stephen realised what he was seeing; it was something that Tasch had done enough times to throw off enemy weapons. The two missiles soared past it, speding off into the distance. Then the pair of them shed their lower stages and broke off, coming back around after the dragon.

The Dekualt Dragon dived and accelerated, the missiles still managing to stay on its tail and beginning to close in. It wheeled around again as they closed in, managing to stay just out of the range of their proximity fuses, just avoiding setting them off. Then it suddenly broke and pulled straight up, heading into a straight vertical climb in front of the arena wall. The missiles, not able to respond fast enough, instead slammed straight into the wall, detonating in a brilliant explosion that sent shards of concrete raining down.

"Damn it!" Stephen yelled out. "Damn you both!" He opened fire with the Hyperbeam cannon, the only weapon he knew that was big enough to go through the enemy Zoid's sloped armour. The shot went wide, searing past the fleeing dragon. Regardless, he fired again, another shot then a third searing past the Dragon, he knew that it was fruitless; the cannon was too being and had too slow a rate of fire to track a fast-moving airborne Zoid. Yet, at the same time, he knew it was his only option.

"Face it, boy!" Miles called out. "There ain't nothing you can do to me! You're done for! So say your prayers, and kiss your big Monkey goodbye!" The Dekault Dragon roared as it wheeled around again, diving towards Stephen's damaged Zoid.

As it dived, however, the Zoid was unexpectedly hit in its damaged flank by a volley of shots. Innumerable beams struck the Dragon's body, most of them, deflecting away at odd angles or simply soaring straight past it. Some, however, seemed to have struck the sections of the Zoid that were already damaged, and, more to the point, had a noticeable effect. Looking around, Stephen could see what had happened; Neil's Gunsniper had oropped itself up on its bad foot, and was blazing away with its cannons on the dragon.

"Damn it!" Miles shouted out. "Don't mess with me, you stupid little-" The Dragon wheeled around and opened fire on the Gunsniper, pummelling Neil's Zoid with the quintet of cannons mounted on its forelegs, chest and back. The Shots tore into his Zoid, blasting it off its feet and sending it crashing to the ground. Stephen didn't need to check to see if the Zoid was out of action; it was obviously disabled. Neil must have known what would happen when he opened fire on the Dragon - Miles would take him out with one volley.

And open himself up for a couter attack.

He opened fire on the Dragon as it banked around, its broadside exposed and almost lazily floating across his sights. The massive beam ripped into the Dekault Dragon's side, blasting its foreleg apart before gouging through its armour and tearing into the underside of its wing. The wing shattered into dozens of pieces as the Zoid let out an ear-shattering roar of pain, rolling over in the air.

Unbalanced and unable to fly, the massive machine smashed into the ground and bounced, shedding more parts as it fell. It then seemed to literally explode in the air, reassembling itself into its two component Zoids, wach of which skidded across the ground before coming to a halt. The Parablade was clearly out of action; its right leg was simply missing, while most of its body was a tangled mess of parts. As it woozily got to its feet, he could see that the Death Raser wasn't faring too much better. It had lost its right arm and wing, and its entire side had been gouged open.

"Give it up!" Stephen called out. "Your Zoid's in no shape to continue!"

"Wha..." The Death Raser shook is head, as if in reflection of its pilot's state. "No!" Miles shouted out. "I will not loose to you! Not now, not again, not ever!" The Zoid snarled, then screamed as it brake into a limping run, its legs clearly damaged by either the shot or the subsequent crash.

Stephen didn't say anything back, merely dropping the sights onto the advancing Zoid. The Hyperbeam cannon fired again, blasting into the charging Death Raser. The shot tore through its left wing simply blowing it off the Zoid's body. Despite this, the one-armed Zoid continued to advance, its pilot not wanting to admit defeat.

The Death Raser lunged at the Iron Kong, but its advance seemed to be little more then a slow motion parody of the ferocious Zoid that he'd fought earlier. The Kong, even damaged, was able to step out of its way, then swing back with its good arm and smash the Death Raser in the side. The blow rocked the enemy Zoid, sending it staggering across the field, only to have it shake itself off and come back.

"Its over, Miles." Stephen called out, the Iron Kong bringing down its fist on the back of the Zoid. The Death Raser staggered, its legs suddenly slipping. "Give it up. You can't win." The Kong struck again, the Death Raser falling further. One of its legs twisted, driving the Zoid down to its knees. "Admit it!" He bought down both fists, not caring about the warnings the systems were giving him about the left arm. They struck the enemy Zoid on the back of its neck, smashing it into the ground with enough force to crack the concrete underneath it. The Death Raser didn't move, instead just lying there.

"Damn you." Miles gasped. "Damn it."

"The battle is over!" The monitor drone called out. "The winners are the Broken Chairs!"

Stephen sat back in his cockpit and let out a deep breath. They had won. It was over. He was clam. Everything was good.

"Hey man." Neil spoke up over the communicator. "Sorry about getting trashed there."

"Don't worry about it." He replied. "And thanks for giving me a chance there."

"It was all i could do." Neil finished. "And I know that you'd figure what I was doing soon enough. Just can I ask one thing."

"Sure. Anything."

"...give me a warning before you go big crazy ape on us next time, okay?"

"Sure." He finished, then laughed to himself. "How are you to doing?"

"I'm fine." Tasch began. "Sorry I couldn't do too much else for y'all there."

"You did fine, really." Stephen replied, shaking his head. "We weren't ready for them, and there was nothing you could do."

"I guess." She finished. "On the other hand, I made 'em waste a heck of a lot of ammo, which is a pretty good accomplishment." Tasch nodded to herself. "Yeah, that's achieved something for us."

"You're weird you know that?" Rose spoke up. "But thanks for getting him for me, Neil."

"Eh... I just wished I'd gotten him a minute sooner." He casually replied.

"Don't apologise." She finished. "I should be for not getting him myself."

"Next time, huh?" Neil asked.

"Probably." She finished. "So, shall we call in the pickup crews? This looks like its a day."

"Yeah." Stephen nodded. "It is."

oOoOo

Always one of the premier pubs for Zoid pilots, the Wild Elephander was packed to the gills following the days round of battle. There were those who had won, those who had lost and those who had not fought at all that day all packed in together, celebrating the day's events. It was a festive occasion; the tail end of the season where the teams that would be heading into the semis had been determined, and the end was in sight. Much speculation was already going onto who would go to the finals, and who would be the eventual winner.

Not everyone was celebrating, however. Miles Slat was anything but happy about the days' battle, especially after getting the final scorecard printed through. It had been one of Crystal's shots that had taken out the Redler, not one of his. So that meant that he'd only gotten a single kill all battle, and that one had to be shared with Eliot sine their Zoids were fused at the time. And since it was a Gunsniper and he'd been piloting a Dekault Dragon, it counted for virtually nothing in terms of real points.

"Great." He muttered. "We walk away empty handed again." He'd put so much into the team, only to see it all slip through his fingers at the last minute. That it had occurred at the quarterfinals only annoyed him more. It was the same point that he'd lost last year, when the Firestorm team had fallen apart on him.

Looking over the room, he could see Keiko talking with a few members of some other group he didn't recognise. "Yeah, you would be, wouldn't you?" He muttered to himself, then took another sip of his drink. She'd been the one who had screwed up and ended up wrecking the battle for them. He'd have to go over the battle to figure out what went wrong this time, still. He'd wondered who was at fault... Crystal had been the first out, but then Drake had been blasted by that damned Gunsniper. ON the other hand, Drake had gotten the Liger...

He took another drink as he watched Crystal and Drake talking. He knew it couldn't have been Eliot who failed. Eliot had been with him all throughout the battle, and had been a part of the fusion that had very nearly (And oh so nearly) taken the battle. So that couldn't be it either. He took another drink. He'd have to think about this for a while.

Drake left Crystal, instead heading across the room to a different table, dropping out of Miles's sight. Slipping through the crowds, he instead approached the table where the members of the Broken Chairs were sitting, sharing stories with several other teams. Rather then ploughing into the conversation, he instead approached Rose.

"Excuse me." He began quietly.

"What do you want?" She snapped back. It was clear that she'd already had a few to drink, which meant that she may not be a good time. But, at the same time, he felt that it needed saying,

He sighed, knowing how difficult this would be. "I was wondering if we could just have a small, private talk." He explained. "Just fore a couple of minutes. I want to smooth out any, uh, difficulties there may be between us."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm in a good mood tonight, and I don't want to spoil it. You've got three minutes, so make it good." She turned back to the table. "Scuse me for a sec, guys." She added as she stood and walked off to a different corner of the room.

Drake followed her, stopping then turning to her. "Wee haven't spoken since our last night out together." He began. "And I think I can understand why."

"The fact that you and another guy were getting it on may have been it, yeah." She replied. "Was So yeah, I figured there were things you weren't telling me. So what was our relationship about then?" She asked. "Exploring your options? Sitting on the fence, maybe?"

He shook his head. "I will admit that I didn't make my intentions that clear." He explained. "My interest in you lay firmly in your skills as a warrior. I'd seen you in action and was very impressed. You reminded me a lot of your sister, as well as a few others. I was fascinated by this, and wanted to know more aobut you. In many ways, you reminded me of myself when I was younger. If there was any ambiguity to my actions, then I do apologise"

"Shoulda said that earlier, then." She replied. "And the guy?"

"An ex lover of mine who had recently re-entered my life." He admitted. "I don't make my sexuality that public; It's not that I'm ashamed or feel the need to hide it, but rather that I don't think that its an issue either way." He shrugged. "In fact, Crystal from my team has spent most of the season trying to hit onto me with no success."

"At least I should be thankful that you're not after me just for my body then." She finished.

He nodded. "In fact, I must admit that I've never had much of a... relationship with women. I've never been at all interested as far back as I know."

"So you and a girl… never?" He shoot his head. "I see."

"That's the truth of it."

Rose nodded, then grabbed both sides of his face, planting her lips on his. She held him for a few long seconds, then let go and stepped back. "Well, don't knock it till you've tried it." She finished and walked ff, leaving him standing there and flustered.

She took her seat, turning to Neil who was talking with Nadia from the Iron Giants. "So how's it going, guys?"

"Great." Nadia replied. "Saw the battle, by the way. Nice work there."

"You too." She replied. "You kinda demolished your opponents there."

"We try." Nadia finished with a smile.

"She's just as scary off the battlefield, trust me." Neil continued. "Put a pair of dice in this girl's hands and she's lethal."

"I won't pretend to know what you're saying." Rose replied and shook her head.

"Your loss." Neil replied with a grin, knowing full well that Rose didn't share his hobbies.

"So did you ever get your ZWO character reactivated?" Nadia asked him.

"Yeah." He took a sip from his drink. "Turns out that Timmy the Terrible is even lower level then I remembered. He's just at twelve now and has Fiver, the clapped-out Wolf as a ride."

"Well…" She slurped her drink loudly. "I've got Lizzy with MiniMooMoo-"

"MiniMooMoo?" He asked, incredulously.

"-A Cannonfort."

"I approve lots."

"Anyway, she's just at level thirteen." Nadia finished. "So if you want, we could go for a run through Tarantulon Caves. That's some good drops and good XP."

"Well sure." Neil replied. "I'm sure Tasch won't mind me stealing her laptop for the evening."

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to my place and we can do the run there." She offered. "Networked computers and a top of the line connection. And lots of snacks."

"I'm in." He grinned. "Let me just say a quick bye to the guys…" He tuned back to the table. "Hey guys, me and Nadia are going back to her place to play computer games all night and OD on junk food. That cool?"

"…funny thing is, I believe you when you say that." Rose replied.

"What?" He asked with a smirk. "What did you think we were going to do?"

She eyed Nadia – short, slim and with an attractive figure clad in a tight belly shirt and baggy jeans. "Knowing you? Just that." She finished.

"Exactly." He smiled as he left.

"So what about you?" Rose asked as she turned to Tasch. "You got any plans?"

"I was gonna compete in the rest of the season." She replied.

"I meant for tonight."

"Well..." Tasch began. "I was gonna have another drink and maybe talk to a few more people and do some other stuff, I guess."

"Riiight." She sighed, then took another sip from her drink. Everone seemed to be having a good time of it tonight; she could see members of other teams milling around, talking and having fun. Akira in the Swordfighter machine, with other members of his team taking bets; that guy from the Venom team chatting up other women; a few members of the Black Warriors smoking and so on. In fact, the only other person who didn't seem to be having a good time of it was Miles.

_Serves him right too, _she thought. The guy had been annoying, bordering on creepy. She had no idea what was with his little act prior to the battle, save for him wanting to throw them all off. It hadn't worked, and they'd won. No wonder he was sulking now. It was just a pity that Drake had put her in such a bad mood…

"Hey there" Stephen interrupted her train of thought. "I was just going to the bar. Did you want anything?"

She looked at him for a second, as if she wanted to say something. And then, instead, she kissed him. It wasn't like with Drake, where she was aiming to tease him, however. This time she meant it. After a moment, she stepped back.

"Uh, Rose?" He asked.

"You want to blow this joint?" She asked, a seductive tone in her voice. "Maybe head back home?"

He paused for a moment, clearly thinking abut it. "You sure?"

"Very." She finished. "Let's go."

oOoOo

Michel Heywood sat back in his favourite couch, a beer in his hand and a battle playing on the big screen. He would have easily admitted that this was his favourite way to spend an evening, watching the fruits of his labours paying off before him. And this battle was promising to be a good one. Because the ZBC had their big Quarterfinals weekend, he'd decided to field a big load of exciting-looking matches to provide some decent competition.

This one was probably the best of the night. He'd decided to get out the Blood Reapers, a team which he'd considered to be the best in the NUBG outside of Shane and Julian. He'd rested putting them up against that ZBC team simply because there was only two of them versus their four and, well, he knew they didn't play well with others. Their opponents were the Schwartzwulf, another team who he considered to be amongst their best. He'd considered making them the next team to try that little challenge, depending on how things went tonight.

To make things even more exciting, they weren't fighting in a standard NUBG arena. Instead, they were fighting in one of the NUBG's two 'special' battlefields. This one was an abandoned quarry outside of the city, one that was filled with scrap metal, junked machinery and in numerous hidden potholes and other hazards. Not only would the two teams be stalking each other in the darkness with a lot of sensor 'junk' to throw them off, but they'd also be fighting the hazards built into the arena.

He watched in anticipation as a Shadow Fox stalked forwards slowly approaching its unsuspecting target. _This is it_, he thought. _This is where it gets good. _This was the moment he lived for, the point of the kill.

Then, as if it was a personal insult to him, the screen suddenly flashed white then burst into nothing but static. He desperately hammered the remote built into the arm of his couch, trying to get the picture back, but to no avail. Everything he tried just gave him more static.

"Rachel!" He shouted out in a mixture of desperation and panic. "Rachel, get in here!"

"Yes, sir?" She replied as she entered, not a minute later. "What is it?"

"What do you bloody well thing it is?" He asked. "I've lost the bloody picture!"

"Just a second, sir." She stepped over to a control panel built into the wall and pressed a few buttons. "Its not the set, sir." She replied. "We've lost the feed from our remote monitor drone."

"What?" He replied. "Well... we've got others covering the battle! Use one of them!"

"Yes sir." Rache replied as she studied the small screen display. "That's odd."

"What's odd?"

"None of them are responding. We're getting nothing but static on from all three drones."

"You mean they've all gone offline?"

"Within a minute of each other, yes." She replied.

"Well... get another one out there!" He shouted. "I don't care what it takes. I'm not going to loose the NUBG battle of the year to a technical glitch."

"Yes, sir." She replied as she opened a link to their remote training centre, the closest NUBG faculty to the battlefield. Within moments she had activated a drone and dispatched it to the battlefield. "It's on its way now, sir."

The main screen switched to a live feed from the drone, which at the moment was showing the terrain underneath it. It continued along its way for a quater of an hour, cruising to the battlefield before it reached it. The drone dropped down into the quarry, and immediately began to search for a target to track. The first thing it sighted was a Shadow Fox lying on the ground, a huge gash torn in its side and the CP-04 mounted in its top partially crushed. Nearby, a Sabre Tiger lay on the ground, two of its legs torn free from is body. Glancing further afield, Rachel could see a Blade liger partially concealed behind some rubble, its flanks a torn mess of metal.

"Is it over already?" He asked. "Its over and we missed it?"

"Sir?" She asked. "There's no signs of any active Zoids on the battlefield."

"What do you mean? Somebody had to win."

"No sir." She finished as the drone focused on a new target. It was an NUBG surveillance drone, the same type as had been monitoring the battle. Only it had been clearly blasted apart, and was now little more then a smoking wreck, just like the five Zoids on the battlefield. "Somebody took them all out."

oOoOo


	13. Don't try this at home

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Thirteen - Don't try this at home

By Rick R.

Rose blinked awake, the room around her resolving to little more then a grey blur. She knew that it was one of the rooms in the team's base, but at the same time, it didn't seem like hers. Glancing around, a bright blur caused her to screw up her eyes for a moment. _The window... that's not in the right place, _she thought, trying to think her way through the haze of her hangover. She quickly took stock of the situation. She was in bed and, after a quick check, definitely naked. Which meant..

She glanced behind her. Stephen was lying in the bed next to her with his back turned, apparently fast asleep. Delicately glancing under the sheets, she could see that he was just as naked as she was. Which meant that...

Rose screwed up her eyes as she remembered what had happened. She'd been, well, more then a little drunk, and in a good mood. She'd given Drake a piece of her mind, she'd seen Neil run off with some girl from another team (Which still confused her, but..) and then... she'd kissed Stephen and...

_Hell._

She hadn't planned on this. She hadn't meant to end up in bed with a team-mate. She wasn't sure if she even particularly liked Stephen. But, at the same time... she shook her head. Nothing for it now but to try and limit the damage, and maybe try and pretend that it didn't happen.

Rose slipped out of the bed as slowly and carefully as she could manage, making sure not to rouse or disturb Stephen in any way. Pulling on her bra and briefs, she discretely picked up the rest of her clothes from the floor of the room. Making sure that everything was accounted for, she opened the door the slightest crack and peered out.

Nothing. There was no sign of anyone. Perfect.

She opened the door slowly and quietly, then stepped outside into the hall. Closing it behind her, she turned to go. her room was at the other end of the hall, but it felt like an eternity away - she was still hung-over and a bit dizzy, and trying to move as quietly as possible. That she was near naked didn't help any.

"Hey Rose."

Rose stumbled, dropping her clothes in surprise. She spun around, only to see Tasch standing behind her. Her surprise turned to embarrassment as she realised just what she had been wearing. "Um... Tasch.." She began. "I, um. that is, well... its not what it looks like."

"It ain't?" Tasch asked. "Cause it looks like a rose."

"A wha?" She began.

"Yeah, a red rose. And its kinda cool, how you got a stem and all, which goes onto yer thigh."

Rose shook her head, then realised what Tasch was talking about. "Oh yeah, that." She began, realising that her friend hadn't cottoned onto why she was walking through the hall almost in the altogether. "Well, yeah, its a rose. Yeah. Because, um, my name's Rose and, I, uh, like them."

Tasch nodded. "That makes sense. I jus' never saw then end part of it, that's all."

"Yeah, well..." She finished. "Its because, um, I've usually got pants on."

"Yeah, that'd make sense too." Tasch finished.

"So, um... I have to go and... um.. .got some pants on." She finished. "See ya." Turning around again, she picked up as much of her clothes as she could and dashed down the hallway, cheeks burning with embarrassment. As soon as she reached it, she dived into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Miles took a long drag on his cigarette as he looked down at the Zoid bay, glancing over the quartet of machines below him. Of the four of them, none of them were able to stand of their own accord. The Koenig Wolf had been propped up on a stand while it was being worked on, being barely able to support itself otherwise. The Arosaurer was in a similar situation, needing support to remain upright.

The damage to those two was relatively light, while still being enough to disable to them. In both cases, the worst of it was concentrated on a single area; the Wolf's neck and the Arosaurer's chest. Both of them could be make operational restively quickly and easily.

The other two Zoids weren't being supported, mainly because there was no way that they would be able to stand on their own. Both of them were currently lying on the floor of the hanger, partially disassembled while their damages were being assessed. Unlike the Koenig Wolf and Arosaurer, however, the damage to the Death Raser and Parablade was substantial and spread across both their bodies. Both Zoids had limbs torn off and other parrs crushed, and both would be a long time before they were operational.

"Damn it." Miles snarled to himself. "Damn it all." here was no real need to repair the Zoids in a hurry; the season was over for their team. Despite that, he wanted to get them all back in fighting shape as soon as possible. The reasoning was simple; as soon as he could get the team back on the go, the sooner they could begin working on practicing for the next season.

"Hey there, babe." Crystal began as she walked over next to him. "I missed you last night." she added with a giggle.

"I wasn't in the mood." He all but snarled back at her. "Damn it, we've got work to do."

"Awww..." She pouted. "I'm sure I can make things better for you..." She moved closer to put her arms around him.

"I said I'm not in the mood." He snapped. "So leave it off, okay?"

Crystal slinked back for a moment, then paused. "Fine then." She glared at him, her eyes narrowing. "I'll go. And maybe I'll find a different team while I'm at it." If she'd wanted to make a threat, it didn't work. Miles continued to glare at the damaged Zoids. "Hmph." She added, then turned to walk away.

"Fine then!" He shouted after her. "Go if you want. You ran way from your last team as well, didn't you? At least we did better than them! And I'm a lot better then your loser ex too!" He snarled. "I may not have gotten to the finals, but at least I didn't get suspended from the ZBC for being a dumbarse!" Crystal kept going, ignoring him. "You'll be back, I know it! You're getting it good here, the best you've ever had, and I know that a little tart like you can't pass that up!"

He watched her walk off for a minute, then turned back to the Zoids. "Damn it."

A sound of footsteps behind him caught his attention. Not wanting to be caught a second time, he turned to face whoever it, was, only to see Drake there. "What?" He snapped.

"I heard something up here." Drake calmly replied. "I was wondering what it was."

"Little argument between me and Chris." He calmly stated. "Nothing to worry about."

Drake nodded, clearly not wanting to be drawn into personal matters. "I see."

"Yeah..." Miles turned back to look over the Zoids. "So tell me, Drake" he began. "You've seen more action then I have. You've almost been the singles champion once, and got into the quarters another year" He sighed. "So I need to know. What did we do wrong?"

"I'm sorry?"

"We had a plan." He continued. "We knew what we were doing. We had allowed for losses. We should have taken them. But we didn't. So what happened?"

"I don't think that it was any failing of our team's." Drake replied. "In fact, as far as I'm concerned, we did everything right."

"So then what is it?"

"It's simple." Drake replied. "In the end, they were better then us."

"What the hell?" He snapped. "How the hell do you figure that?"

"It's simple." Drake explained. "They managed to last against a team that was more experienced. Furthermore, when we trumped their greatest asset in the opening seconds - a move they clearly didn't anticipate - they were able to adapt and come back quickly. While yes, I do think that Crystal was taken out a lot quicker then any of us had anticipated, the point remains that our plan was sound, and our team did the best they could. It's not any fault of ours, but rather that they simply managed to do that extra bit more to get there."

"So... you're saying that a bunch of rank amateurs were better then us?"

"Not amateurs by any means." Drake shook his head. "Yes, they were inexperienced, but the point is that they learned and adapted rather quickly. They're all skilled pilots and all have shown a lot of flexibility. That's what they had. We've seen it happen in past - lets not forget that we've had somebody go form rookie to singles champion in a single year."

"Whatever. So how do we beat them?" Miles' eyes wandered over the battered Death Raser. The Zoid had been pummelled senseless during its battle, and looked like little more then a wreck.

"We continue to train and practise." Drake finished. "We adopt, adapt and improve. We develop new plans and new tactics. We find out weaknesses and work to reduce or eliminate them. And we retain our focus."

"Right." Miles snarled. He didn't believe a word of what Drake had said, but it seemed like a good idea to keep him on side as well. "I'll think about it."

Drake nodded. "Thanks. I think that, with a bit of planning, we can easily take it next year." he smiled at Miles. "If it's all okay, I was going to pop out for a while. Things I had to do."

"Sure." He finished, waiting for his team-mate to leave. _Yeah, right. If we're gonna do better, then something needs to change around here. Its nice to say 'well you did your best' but, in the end, there's only one place that matters. And I intend to be there._

As Drake stepped out of the Firestorm team's base, he spied a figure walking past, one that he thought that he recognised. It was a tall, muscular woman with short black hair, dressed in a dark purple maintop and matching pants. _Hold on a second, _he thought as he watched her go. _That's not... _He jogged up the street after her, trying to get a little closer to confirm his thoughts. _It is! What's she doing here, I wonder? Well, there's only one way to find out._

"Jill Constantine?" He asked.

She turned around, glaring at him with angry purple eyes for a moment before stopping, then smiling. It was a toothy smile, one that made her look like she was about to bite. "Heeeeey." She began. "Drake Stone. Well I never."

"The same." He replied. "I didn't know you were back in town."

"Well, you know..." She shrugged. "Got stuff to do, people to see."

He nodded. "Are you... re-entering the competition? I mean, its a bit late this year but..."

"Maybe next year." Jill began, looking off to a point just past his head. "Yeah, maybe then."

"I look forward to it, actually." Drake continued. "You were quite a fighter. And to go from rookie to champion in one year-"

"So what about you?" She interjected, suddenly changing the topic. "What are you up to?"

"I'm on a team now." He had been caught off-guard by the sudden change in subject, but managed to collect himself. "The Firestorm team, actually. We made it all the way to the quarterfinals this year."

"Firestorm, huh? Well..." She trailed off. "That Slate guy is an eligible bachelor, after all."

"It's nothing like that." Drake shook his head. "In fact, our relationship is purely professional. And besides, he's already involved with someone else on his team"

Jill nodded. "Of course." Then she grinned again. "Well, I have to run. Things to go, places to do. Later." And then, without saying anything else, she simply turned and walked away, leaving him behind.

_Well that was... unexpected, _he thought. _But then, she was always an odd woman. Still, it's good to see that she's back. _He wondered if she was planning to enter the team completion next year, and quietly hoped that she would A chance to rematch with her in a team battle would be a good challenge, one that he looked forward to.

_But I shouldn't let myself get distracted by thinking about the hypothetical. _He mentally added, chiding himself. _First thing's first. I need to get started on improving this team. If we're going to win next year's competition, be it against the chairs or Constantine or anyone else, then we're going to have to do a lot of work. This will be a challenge. _And if there was one thing that drake enjoyed, it was a challenge. Smiling to himself he happily walked off, in a confident and happy mood.

Leaving Drake behind, Jill strode down the end of the street. Waiting there, casually leaning against a wall was a brown-haired woman, a little shorter then Jill was but still notably above the average. She was dressed in a dark green and grey suit, and wore sunglasses. "So, did all go well?" She began.

"Yeah, they were there." Jill replied.

"See?" She continued, a smug tone in her voice. "I'm always right."

"I don't like this." Jill scowled. "It's too bright, too open here."

"Yeah, but it's the last place anyone would think to look." She explained. "People meet in smoky bars or out the back of grimy clubs. Nobody ever expects you to meet in the nice part of town."

"I guess." Jill snarled. "So now what?"

"I'll let you know next time something happens." The woman finished, sliding her glasses down her nose. Her light green, nearly yellow eyes glanced at Jill's purple ones. "Because I know that you'll want to be there."

"Oh yeah." Jill grinned. "No way would I miss any of the fun."

The Monday after the quater-finals weekend was insanely busy for the ZBC. Even though the season was in its wind-up period, there was a lot of work to be done. The ZBC's marketing department was going into overtime to hype the forthcoming battles, doing their best to promote the four remaining teams. It wasn't helped by the fact that one of them was an outsider rookie team who had next to no public face, which made them a lot harder to promote.

There was a lot more work to be done with regards to the actual battles. While there were only three battles left until the finals in the teams series, the four teams themselves needed to be carefully measured up and assessed to determine what would be the most 'fair' battles. The last thing that the wanted in what was meant to be the exciting and dangerous end of the season was a one-sided affair where one team simply stampeded the other.

To cap it all off, security was a lot tighter then it normally was. At this time of year, the ZBC typically did everything in its power to make sure that no information got out about what was to come; the idea was that a surprised audience were a more excited one. The presence of the NUBG made things even tighter; with them suddenly active, and more to the point, taking an interest in one of the semi-finalist teams, the ZBC didn't want to take any risks. The fact that there was an ongoing investigation into just who it was that had been selling information to them made things even more difficult for everyone involved, putting them all on edge, guilty or not.

The sound of Ron McGonnagle's phone ringing was almost enough to cause him to leap out of his chair in surprise. Fumbling through the drawers in his desk, he picked out a single phone that he didn't usually keep lying around, just in case somebody found it. Picking it up, he held it close to his face and covered his mouth, then hunched over as if he could hide form some unseen observer. "What do you want?" He hissed. "This isn't a good time!"

"I don't ferking care what time it is!" Heywood bellowed on the other end of the line. "I want to know which one of your tractor-driver pilots laid into my men!"

"What?" He began. "What's going on here, Michael? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me, Ron." He continued. "I had a special event on last night, and somebody barged into it and laid out both teams, reducing all involved to so much smoking rubble! I had five Zoids disabled, and two pilots in hospital with severe injuries! And, more importantly, whoever the hell it was trashed all my remote cameras, so we didn't get any of it on tape. I just lost big time, Ron."

"So what does this have to do with me?" He asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, wisearse." Michael snarled. "Outside of NUBG, only a couple of people knew what was going on last night. And I know that you were one of them. So somebody had to rat us out, and I need to know who it was."

"Michael, I hear what you're saying, but you have to believe that it wasn't me." He offered. "I don't have anything to gain by ratting you out, and I can say now that the ZBC certainly isn't behind this. Contrary to what the tabloids say, we don't have secret mercenary death squads that we use to take care of our opposition. Frankly, I can't think of a current ZBC pilot who could take on five of your best pilots-" (He managed this without a hint of irony in his voice) "-all on their own. It wasn't me, Heywood. Really."

"Then who was it? The fricking tooth fairy?"

Ron sighed. "I have no idea, Michael. And trust me, I'd like to know too. In fact, I'd like to get my hands on whoever it is who's been doing this. They're making my life just as much of a pain as yours and, frankly, I'd love to be rid of them."

"Right." Heywood finished, clearly not entirely convinced. "Well, tell you what. If your internal investigation turns up some connection, let me know. We may just spare the ZBC the pain of doing something about it."

"Of course." He added. Rubbing his temples, an idea occurred to him, one that might get Heywood off his case, of only for a little while. "I'm going to send you the contact details - that's e-mail, phone, and street address for that team you love so much." _Which should give you something to obsess over and leave me alone._

"Sure!" He replied. "Thanks for that, Don."

"Just don't forget, it won't come free." He added, then hung up. Sighing, he put the phone back into the desk. As much as he wanted to do something about this, he knew that now was not the time to act. The last thing he wanted to do was raise his profile or do anything that could get him noticed.

Instead, he quietly went back to work, pretending for a moment that none of these problems even existed.

Neil cheerily walked into the kitchen, smiling happily to himself. "Good morning all." He began. "And how are we?"

"Pretty good, yeah." Tasch replied as she sat down at the table. "Yeah, I slept pretty well."

"No nagging bruises or the like?" He asked. "I mean, you got spun around pretty badly when your Zoid was shot down yesterday."

"Naw, it's cool. My safety harness and stuff meant I didn't get too bad. And I slept most of it off." She nodded. "Yeah, I'm not too bad."

"Well that's cool." He grinned. "Because I, for one, feel fan-bloody-tastic."

"Really?" Rose asked as she walked in.

"Morning Rose." Neil asked. "And how are you this beautiful morning?"

"Crappy." She replied, clearly meaning it. Her eyes were bleary and her hair was a mess. "We got any coffee here?"

"Hit the sauce a little hard last night, did we?" Neil asked.

"Yeah, I did." She muttered. "Damn it, where is it?"

"Tried the big tin labelled 'coffee' next to the toaster?" Neil quipped.

"That's make sense." Tasch added, "Seein' as that's where it always is."

"Very funny." She muttered as she opened the tin. "Okay, so maybe I overdid it a bit." She admitted. "But then, I was in a good mood. You can hardly blame me. With what we'd managed today and... other things, I felt really, really good for once. So I cut a little loose. It's not like I did anything stupid."

"I'm not blaming you at all, Rose." Neil replied, defensively. "I'm just being my usual self."

"Besides." She smiled. "I saw you going off with someone earlier." She laughed to herself as she spooned coffee. "I didn't think you had it in you, Neil."

"Well, you know." He leered. "Once I get started, I can just keep going all night." He smiled. "In fact, I didn't even sleep here. I just crept in a bit before dawn."

"You sly dog you." She finished as she sat down. "So how was it?" Rose slyly added.

"Fan-bloody-tastic." He continued.

Rose was taken back for a moment, not expecting such openness from Neil. "It was?"

"Oh yeah." He took a sip from his orange juice. "We knocked over Tarantulon Caves in an hour, which is a pretty good time for a two-man group. Then we did a whole bunch of stuff out in the Flatlands, and I managed to get my mining skill up to 150. Oh, and then we went into one of the Arenas and we had a great time beating upon Zombiekids who tried to defeat us with their hideous typing. It was a laugh. Oh, and I bought Fiver some new knees."

"Say... wha?" Rose asked.

"_Zoids World Online._" he explained. "We were playing it all night. What did you think we were doing?"

"Sleeping?" Tasch offered.

"Well..." Rose began. "No, you're right." She finished.

"See? It all works out good." He smiled.

"Yeah, I can imagine." Tasch continued. "'cause I would have done that too, except I don't play it at all. But if I did, I would've done something like that too. And we could've made a big night of it all, yeah."

Rose shook her head. "Well that made no sense at all."

Neil nodded. "But then, what did you expect?" He glanced up as Stephen entered, looking only a little better off then Rose was. "Hey there."

"Morning Neil, Tasch." He began, then stepped over behind Rose. Leaning over, he slipped his arms over her shoulders, and leant down next to her face. "And good morning to you, Rose." he sweetly added.

"Hey, get off me!" She snapped.

"What?"

"You heard!" She stood up, pulling her arms off her.

"Rose?" He asked. "What's up with-"

"What's up with me?" She cut him off. "What about you, creep? What's with all this-"

"Well I thought that after last night-" He began to explain.

Rose glared at him. "What about last night?"

"Well, we did slee-"

"I was drunk, okay?" She snapped. "And I... I didn't mean to do it. And if I did, it was just a one-night thing, okay?"

"Huh?" He shook his head. "Wait, are you saying that... damn it, why didn't you actually explain that?"

"I thought it would have been obvious!" She snapped. "Its not like I've had any interest in you in past, and you should have been able to tell that I was drunk, okay?"

"Wait a second-"

"I think we should go, Tasch." Neil began.

"You think?"

"Definitely." He stood as quietly as possibly, trying to get to the door before-

"Where are you two going?" Rose demanded.

"Well, since this ain't about us-" Tasch began.

"Don't... what..." She shook her head. "Damn it, you're all impossible, you know that? I don't know what I'm even doing here!" She added, then stormed out.

"Rose, wait a sec-" Tasch began, but Stephen cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it, Tasch. I know how she feels." He admitted. "I just messed things up big time."

"Yeah." Neil nodded. "But I bet it was good, wasn't it?"

"Shut up, Neil."

"Shutting up, sir."

"Well..." Tasch began. "If y'all are feeling bad, there's something good fer it."

"Which is?"

"We can work on our Zoids an' try to get 'em fixed." She nodded. "Its what I do when I'm not feelin' too good."

Stephen thought about it, then nodded. "Good idea, Tasch. I like it. Let me get a bite to eat, and we'll get going."

"And I'll... umm..." Neil began. "I'll hold your stuff. Yeah."

"Sure!" Tasch finished. "Thanks fer that. I could always use a stuff holder." She walked out. "I'll get started on assesin' all the damage, kay?"

Heywood angrily slammed down his phone, then looked over his computer screen again. At the moment it was displaying a list of figures that was covering the finances from last night's fiasco. It had been a particularly bad night for NUBG; the battle had to be cancelled and he'd had to refund all the bets placed. Not just that, but he'd have to cover repairs for all the Zoids as well as the medical fees for the pilots - and surgeons who didn't ask questions didn't come cheap.

Finally, there was the battle field itself; it was clear that somebody outside the NUBG knew where this supposedly secret battleground was, and, more to the point, they had revealed its location. It meant that he could no longer safely use it, which meant in turn that all the money he'd poured into it had been wasted, which was another black mark against the night.

It annoyed him. It annoyed him a lot. No, annoy was too mild a word. It angered him. It ate him up inside, simply because he had no idea who had done it and who had informed them. This meant that he couldn't retaliate against them and couldn't teach them a lesson. He wanted someone to suffer for what they had done to him, but the problem was that there was nobody he could do it to.

He tried to distract himself by going over videos from recent battles. He always found that when he was in a bad mood, watching some violent programming made him feel better. It got his creative juices pumping, letting him think of new ideas and new matches that he could use to further promote and expand the NUBG. Going through his computer, he cued up a list of his personal favourites, the ones that he always liked.

However, this time they weren't doing anything for him. Instead of making him feel excited, they were, well, rather boring. They seemed to be nowhere near as interesting as they used to be, as if... there was something lacking, something that he couldn't quite grasp. He wanted more, something better, something more exciting... and what the NUBG had to offer just wasn't enough any more.

Looking over it, he realised what it was. It was that singe damn ZBC team, the one that had beaten his best on so many occasions. _That's it. It's them that's the problem. _None of his pilots had been able to get a win over them. And while Shane and Julian had come close, that wasn't exactly a televised battle and certainly nothing that they could place bets on.

_What I need to do is get them into some battle, one where the odds are against them, one where there's no chance of them winning... but yet the backers will play it up and bet big-time on it. _He grinned to himself. _Then, when I've reduced them to rubble, I can claim the winnings and finally get them out of my hair. Perfect._

_But how do I do it? _That was the key stumbling block. The ZBC knew that NUIBG were still interested in this team. And, given that they were now in the top four, they would be extra careful to look after them. There was no way the NUBG could take over one of their remaining battles; it'd mean an all-out invasion of the centre of the city, something that he knew he didn't have the resources to achieve.

One of his phones rang, grabbing his attention. He was surprised, as it was one of his few surveillance agents, a small core of hired spooks who NUBG used to gather info that their regular network of paid informants couldn't quite get. It was useful to him, and had proved to have well paid for itself. "What is it?" He asked.

"This is Wyoming." Heywood instantly recognised his code-name as belonging to the men he had watching that team's base. "Just reporting in. One of the targets, the Liger pilot, has left their base. Do you want us to follow?"

"Yes." He began. "No, change that. I want you to grab her."

"What?"

"You heard me, grab her and bring her here." He said. "Don't hurt her or do anything to her, just... just bring her in. And for gods sakes, make sure she doesn't see where you're taking her."

"Sure." Wyoming finished. "Right away."

He closed the phone, then sat back and smiled. All of a sudden, things were looking good.

Rose really had no idea where she was going. She just was going _away. _Right now she wanted to get as far away from the rest of the team as possible, and try to forget that last night - and this morning - hadn't happened.

She was very angry; angry with herself for allowing herself to get that drunk to end up in bed with Stephen like that. It shouldn't have happened, she shouldn't have been so... so damned stupid. And then to have made such an arse of herself sneaking out of his room and everything else that had happened.

She was angry at Stephen for completely misinterpreting what had happened, and then making such an arse of himself, and of her, in front of the others. It should have been obvious to him that it was just the booze speaking, and, simply because she hadn't been next to him when he woke up, that she didn't want to dwell on it at all. But no... he had to make a big act of it in front of Neil ant Tasch and make it obvious that something had happened between them.

Those two hadn't helped either. Neil had been his usual snarky self and hadn't helped any, while Tasch had just been... well, she'd been Tasch, which was bad enough.

And to cap it all off, it was a considerable hike to the nearest bus stop. That only made her just a bit angrier. That she discovered when she reached it that she'd just missed one and, more to the point, it was the better part of half an hour trill the next one just served to make her angrier still.

She stood fuming for a few minutes, before feeling something prod into the small of her back. She wanted to turn around and yell at whoever it was, but then she realised what it was. It was something small and cold, like the feeling of metal. Something with a circular gap in it. Something like a gun.

"I suggest that you don't do or say anything." A mans voice behind her said.

"We're in broad daylight." She began, her anger suddenly drained to fear.

"And there's nobody around. The bus doesn't even stop here most days."

"You're NUBG." She surmised. She didn't know that they had spooks with guns, and hadn't thought that they were in the business of kidnapping people. "What do you want?"

"I have a car." He simply stated. "I suggest that you get into it."

She considered her options for a moment. He was right; there was nobody around who could see or hear her, so shouting or putting up a fight wasn't going to help any. And while she knew she could try running, he did have a gun pointed to her back, which were odds she didn't like.

"All right then." She muttered. "And there's no need to push me." Glancing across the road, she could see a single black sedan pulling up, presumably her ride to... wherever it is. She noticed that it had tinted windows, so whoever was in it had some idea what they were doing. "You guys are NUBG, right?"

"Lets not talk, huh?" He replied. "I don't want to make this difficult for either of us."

"That's a yes, then." She finished. _Makes sense too... NUBG are the only people that I can think of who would be after me for some reason. And this move is about the level of stupidity I've come to expect from them. _She shook her head. _Just... be calm. And don't panic. _The pair moved towards the car, one of its back doors swinging open. _Here we go..._

Rachel Golden stormed into Michael's office, a look of pure rage on her face. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Heywood?" She snapped.

"What's that, Rach?" He casually replied as he looked up from his computer.

"You know what I mean." She continued. "I just heard that two of your goons came in dragging that O'Bannon woman form that ZBC team from a car. From that, I took it as a fair guess that you've kidnapped her."

"And?" he asked.

"Are you insane?" She continued. "Do you know what this means? You've just made us a lot, lot more dangerous in the eyes of the law! You've just given them even more reasons to come after us! And... and what if they were followed? What if she gets out and finds her way back to the PKB or the ZBC? What then? What the hell were you thinking, Michael, or were you even thinking at all?"

"Relax, Rach." He replied, leaning back on his chair. "It's all under control."

"What do you mean?" She continued. "Do you realise what this means?"

"Yes, yes I do." He continued as he lit up a cigar. "You see, Rach, you're not thinking about it at all. Why do you think I told Wyoming and Texas to snatch her?"

"...Wyoming and Texas?" She asked.

"Their Code-names, Rach." He replied as he took a deep drag. "Why do you think they snatched her?"

"Because... you wanted revenge on her for what she did to the NUBG?" Rachel offered.

"It's not that, Rach." He explained. "I'm not going to harm her in any way, if that's what you're thinking. Its be against my better interests to do such." He took another drag.

"So... what are you doing?"

"Simple, Rach." He continued. "I'm gonna use her as a bargaining chip. I'm gonna use her to force her team into a battle on my terms, one that will be used to end this little affair once and for all. If they win – and they won't - then she goes free and I never bother them again. If we win, well, we stop bothering them as well, simply because we won't need to. And yes, she'll go free afterwards." He grinned. "And don't panic., Rach. I'm smarter then to hold this battle on NUBG turf."

"But sir..."

"Rach, I've got this all worked out." He explained, waving his cigar around. "Our audience will go nuts for this, seeing this bunch shoved into a battle that they can't possibly win-"

"Like the last three battles?"

"Bear with me, Rach. This time they're not gonna win." He grinned. "But at any rate, the betting will be wild. Will they win despite the odds? Will they loose? Will they win despite the odds? Either way, we'll make a fortune off the bets and video sales. It's not insanity, Rach. Its genius. Sheer bloody genius."

Rachel sighed to herself. "I understand, sir. And I apologise for not seeing it before."

"You see, Rach?" He took another puff on his cigar. "I've got it all worked out. You were right to be concerned, but that's simply because you didn't see the bigger picture. And that, Rach, is why I'm in charge. I'm creative. I'm a thinker, someone who's prepared to do the unusual and the unexpected. What might look bad immediately is all a ploy... I throw people off by giving them the unexpected, the last thing they'd think of."

She nodded. "I'm sorry I doubted your plan, sir."

"Relax, Rach. You weren't to know." He took another puff. "Not everyone's as smart as me, you know."

"No, sir. they're not." She finished. "If you'll excuse me, please?"

"Certainly, Rach." He replied. "You go and get ready. This is gonna be the biggest match in NUBG's history."

"I'm sure it will be, sir." She agreed as she stepped out of his office. Glancing around, she left her own desk, instead walking off further into the NUBG faculty itself. Navigating her way though the maze of passages and tunnels, she instead headed for a little use service entrance.

Stepping out, she emerged just outside the derelict factory that was the cover for the NUBG's headquarters and main arena. Glancing around to make sure that there was nobody around, she pulled out her phone and quick dialled a number that she had memorised. She never committed any of the numbers to the phone's internal books, seeing them as a security risk.

After a moment, the Phone picked up. "Hello, Elden?" She began. "It's Rachel. Sorry to interrupt you, but I need a favour. Remember those stocks I asked you to liquidate? Well, uh... could you do the rest of them?"

Tasch finished adjusting a bolt on the Redler then stood back to admire her work. While most of its side armour was still missing pending being replaced, the sleek black Zoid's structure and systems were now fully operational. It had taken a lot of work, but it meant that now, at the very least, they had two functional Zoids. "Yeah, that's it."

"Looks good." Stephen added as he walked around to join her. "In fact, I'd say that's just right."

"Naw, it ain't yet." Tasch shook her head. "'cause it ain't got any armour on it yet. 'course, were gonna work on that in a minute."

"Well, I was thinking that it may be a good time now to take a break." He offered. "We've already worked through lunch."

"A late lunch would do me fine." Neil called out from his seat in the Liger Zero's cockpit. "Yum, food."

"How's it going up there?" Stephen asked.

"Not bad. Thanks for giving me a job I can actually do." He replied. "It's just on the last steps of the configurajugama now, so I think that is all good to go." The Koenig Wolf's fangs had fried most of the Zero's systems, which meant that many of them needed to be re-loaded. Since he had a lack of mechanical skills, Neil had instead volunteered to watch over the Liger's OS as it rebooted. He'd figured that 'push a button when it says to and call us if it looks bad' was about up to his skill level.

"Well, I'm glad ya'll could help." Tasch replied. "'cause it did need doin' and all that."

"Well, any time you need a button pressed, I'm your man." He offered, jokingly.

"Thanks!" She nodded. "I mean, it'd be real useful too. 'cause there's a lotta different things you could need a button pushed for." She began. "Like... if you wanted to get in a lift, but your hands were full... that'd be real handy."

"Well, I suppose..."

"'course, you could try to get it with your own finger, or yer elbow or something. But if it's a really big and tough load, then, well, then you'd be in trouble." She continued, apparently off in her own world. "And you could get stuck there, waitin' fer somebody to come along."

Neil shook his head. "You're amazing, you know that?" He hopped out of the Liger's cockpit and joined the air of them. "So how's things going?"

"We fixed the Redler's internals, so now all we need to do is replace the armour." Stephen replied. "I figure that we can start on the Zero after lunch now that you've rebooted its system."

"Not going on the Kong?" He asked.

Stephen shook his head. "It's still operational, which is more then the rest of our Zoids can claim. Despite that, it's also going to need the most work to get back into top shape. Kongs can take a lot of damage before going down, but the drawback is that they need a lot of repairs afterwards."

"An' they're real big too, which makes it even harder." Tasch added. "'cause there's a lot more to repair."

"That too." Stephen continued. "And trust me, I've done the assessment, that big monkey is in a world of hurt right now."

"It looks like that Dekault tried to go at it with a cheese grater." Neil commented. "I'm amazed that you lived through that."

"Well, you know." Stephen began as he headed up the stairs to the living room. "I was determined not to let that jerk beat us. I stood my ground and did what I can. But I really, really couldn't have done it without your help, Neil."

"Ah, it was nothing any other kamikaze wouldn't have done." He replied dismissively as he followed Stephen up the stairs. "In fact, as a kamikaze, I suck big time."

"'course y'all do." Tasch added. "'cause you're still alive. If y'all were a good kamikaze, then you wouldn't be here to talk about it. It means yer an unsuccessful kamikaze."

"I cannot argue with your flawless logic." Neil shrugged as he entered the room. "Hey, what's that little beeping thing on the computer mean?"

"What's that?" She began as she walked over to it. "Well heck, that's odd. Looks like someone's trying to connect to us for a live conferency thing."

"Does it say who it is?" Stephen asked.

"It's an anonymous generic request." Tasch replied. "But it has to be someone who knows our contact details, which would be the ZBC. Can't think who else it'd be."

"ZBC already?" Neil began. "That's unusual. Shouldn't we let Rose know?"

"When she's done sulking, sure." Stephen muttered. "But if they're going to live conference us, then this can't wait."

"Sure thing." Tasch replied as she flicked on a couple of options and activated the small camera built into her computer. "Right, all ready?"

Both Stephen and Neil nodded, then Tasch pushed the 'accept' button. After a few seconds, a video window came up - with the NUBG logo splashed across it. "The heck?" Tasch began as it dissolved, replaced with a darkened room. A single figure sat in a chair, his figure entirely concealed in the shadows with no features visible, save for some light reflecting off his glasses.

"It's good to meet you at last." He began, his voice digitally altered to give it a very low, very deep electronic tone. "After such a long rivalry, I wanted to speak to you personally before I bring it to an end."

"What do you want?" Stephen snapped. "Or are you just calling to waste our bandwidth?"

"I have a proposition for you." The figure continued. "Your team will have one last battle with ours to end this feud forever. If you win, then we will leave you alone. If you loos, we will take your Zoids for our own as compensation for all that you've cost us so far."

"Great deal." Neil commented. "So why should we agree to your terms? We know that you clowns are just going to rig it in your favour."

"There is a little sweetener to the deal, something that I think makes it worth fighting over." He replied. "I'll let you take a look yourself."

His image dissolved, replaced with a woman sitting in a dark room. Unlike the man, however, her features were clearly visible. "Rose?" Stephen began.

"Hey..." She started. "What do you-" She glared straight at the camera. "Hey! Get that thing away from me! Just leave me alone, you bunch of pervs!" She got up and ran towards the camera, which suddenly backed off to show a metal door, a pair of armed guards by it. The scene dissolved again, cutting back to the shadowed man.

"There, is that enough for you?" He began.

"What have you done to her, you monster?" Stephen growled, his hands curling into fists.

"Nothing yet." He replied. "For now, she remains a guest of the NUBG, albeit an unwilling one. For the moment, no harm will come to her."

"That's ain't nice." Tasch continued. "In fact, that's pretty damn low. Yer a pretty vile man."

"So here is the deal. If you agree to the battle, then we will release her to fight alongside you. After all, as the woman who started all this, she has just as much a place in our little showdown. If you decline my invitation, then, well, I cannot grantee what will happen." The figure paused, and Stephen could swear that he was grinning. "And we're watching your base. If you leave the base, we will know. If you go to the PKB or the ZBC, we will know. If you contact anyone besides us, we will know."

"We can see you. We know what you're doing. We know who you're speaking to. We know where you live."

"Fine." Stephen replied. "We get the picture. What do we have to do, you maniac?"

"Here's the deal. You will remain inside your base. I will allow you one phone call to hire a par of Gustavs. At one-thousand hours in on the day after tomorrow, you will leave with all your Zoids, O'Bannon's included. You will travel to the abandoned IrKen industries factory on the corner of Hogger and Ursal, and await one of my men there. He will then lead you to your final destination."

"But that's..." Stephen glanced down, "Less then two days away. That's barely enough time to repair our Zoids, let alone-"

"You will make the deadline, or else Ms O'Bannon will suffer the consequences." He interrupted. "If you are followed, then she will suffer. If we see anyone else, then she will suffer. Do you understand?"

"Sure." Stephen snarled. "We'll be there."

"Excellent." The figure finished. "I look forward to seeing you there." The image dissolved into the NUBG logo, then vanished.

"So what do we do?" Neil asked as he nervously glanced at Stephen. "I mean, they've got Rose but... this is so going to be a trap."

"Well, I think that we have to go along with 'em." Tasch replied. "'cause if they took Rose, it means they're either a lot more dangerous then we thought or a lot more stupid then we though. An' either way, they're that we should do what they say or else they're gonna end up doin' somehtin' real bad. And we don't want that."

"That makes a sad amount of sense, actually." Neil replied. "And I'm beginning to think that when Rose described them as a bunch of mindless jerks, she was right after all." He shrugged. "Go figure."

"Right, here's what we'll do." Stephen finished as he stood up and turned around. "Tasch and I will get to wok on our Zoids. Neil, I want you to rent us a couple of Gustavs. And, uh, get us a bite to eat. We're going to be very busy."

"Gotcha, chief." Neil replied. "Anything else I can do? I mean... I feel a little useless otherwise."

"Well..." Tasch began. "If I say 'hold this' can y'all do that?"

"Standing around and looking confused while hanging onto something is my specialty." He grinned.

"Thanks, Neil." Stephen finished. "Okay guys, let's get to work, for Rose's sake."

Heywood waited, staring at the camera until the computer operator gave him a 'thumbs up' to indicate that they were finished. He grinned to himself as the lights came back on, standing and walking over to Rachel, who was waiting by the camera. "So what did you think?" He began. "I have always wanted to play the villain, Rach. And that was awesome."

"It was a... memorable performance." She offered.

"It was bloody awesome." He grinned. "I should include it on the next video as a bumper or something... yeah."

"So what do we do now?" Rachel asked.

"Just what we said we'd do." He replied. "We wait and see what happens. And I know that they're gonna go for it. They're not going to risk anything happening to their teammate."

"I see." She finished. "Is there anything else, sir?"

"Not at the moment, Rach." He grinned. "But I want you to start putting out promotional feelers to our crowd. Tell them... tell them that this will be the final showdown between us and that team. After this one, there will be nothing else, either way. Say high stakes, everything on the line... you know, all that sorta stuff. But don't mention how we got them into this battle. Even our backers don't like kidnappings."

"As I can imagine, sir." Rachel nodded.

"Good. Well, get to it. I have an empire to run." He finished, then paused. "You know, I could really, really begin to like this. Yeah... Michael Heywood, evil manager." He grinned. "I mean, I swore I'd never appear on-camera, what with the whole 'illegal acts' thing but... I dunno, its got some appeal to it. Maybe I could be this sinister shadowy figure who hands down dire commands..." he trailed off.

Shaking her head, Rachel walked off. She had a lot of work to do, and not all of it was in preparation for the upcoming battle. Striding into her office, she sat down behind her computer, and looked over the figures for a moment. Then she stood up again, walking out to he officer's lounge, where the ZBC's top pilots usually hung out. Today there was only one man present, which was just the person she was after.

Sighting Cole, she sat down next to him, glancing around the room. "I thought I'd find you here." She began. "We need to talk."

"Heywood's plan, right?" He began.

She nodded. "I don't want to sound... alarmist, Cole, but this is beginning to remind me of what happened a few years ago." Her eyes strayed to his open coat, and his scarred chest under it.

"No, I undestand what you mean, Rachel, and I agree." He replied. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm thinking that we need to keep an eye on things." She offered. "And prepare for the worst. I don't know the full details of where exactly he's planning to have this showdown, but he assures me that its not going to be in the NUBG central arena. This, unfortunately, limits my disaster planning."

Cole nodded. "I understand. I think our best bet is to simply be ready for anything."

"Like me, I see you're that convinced that this is a mistake." She observed.

"Very much so. What about the others?"

She shook her head. "All of them want to be the one who takes down that team. None of them are going to listen, even Shane or Julian."

"So when it all goes bad, it'll be us only."

Rachel nodded. "Thereabouts." She paused. "I think I may be able to lever things to our advantage, however. Give me some time, and I'm sure I can engineer a better outcome." She stood.

"Certainly." He agreed. "Whatever you want to do, I'll back you all the way."

"Thank you, Julian." She finished. "I'm glad that not everyone in NUBG is so blind."

"I learned my lesson." He agreed. "Sadly, it seems that nobody else here has."

Rose sat sulkily in her cell, glaring at the door. She'd been somewhat surprised that the NUBG even had cells, not being sure what to expect. A part of her wondered if these things had been purpose built, or, if like what little lese she'd seen of the NUBG base, it had been converted after the fact from something else.

Things had gone a lot better then she'd expected, really. She'd feared for the worst, that they were going to torture her or something equally as unpleasant. Instead, they'd simply hassled her off to a cell and shut her in there. Save for sticking a camera in her face, she'd been left alone otherwise.

_Wonderful. _She thought to herself. _Here I am, rotting in an NUBG Hellhole. This has to be about the lowest point of my career so far. _She sighed to herself. _Great end to my first year in the competition; stuck in an NUBG cell, staring at the ceiling. Wonderful. _She shook her head. _Vi never went through anything like this. What did she say? She once saw a NUBG guy and swatted him and that was the end of it._

_So now what do I do? I can't get out, and I don't want to sit around in case they have something in store for me. _She shivered at the thought. _Okay, Rose, be sensible. Try to think about your situation ad figure a way out of here. You're smart, you're cable, you can figure something._

She stood up and walked over to the door, looking over it. It seemed to be using a relatively simple lock, but one that was also very solid and, more to the point, on the other side of the door to where she was. A few quick pokes revealed that both the door and the wall were very solid, not the sort of things that she could easily knock down. There was a small slit at eye level, and a larger one at the bottom of the door, but that was it.

_Okay, so no immediate way out. Just keep thinking. I'm sure I can think of something._

A knock at the door interrupted her train of thought. There was a brief scraping noise as a tray slid under the door ,several Styrofoam packets and a plastic cup on it. "What's this all about?"

"It's your dinner." A female voice on the other side of the door began. "Takeaway chicken burger, chips and an orange juice."

"Gee, thanks." She muttered, then turned to the door. She could see a bit of the person on hte other side; a blonde woman wearing glasses. "Hey, what's-"

"Its not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking. Or drugged." The woman began. "In fact, Its currently in our best interests to keep your alive and well."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, her eyes narrowing.

The woman glanced around, for a moment. "What I mean is that you're being used as bait to bring the rest of your team into a battle, presumably with you a part of it. I don't know the details, but, well, they'll want you to be a part of it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To reassure you?" The woman offered. "Probably just to help put you at ease - and yes, I know that it's not much." She admitted. "And to warn you. The match they're planning will be heavily stacked against you - more so then normal, I mean."

"Thanks." Rose quipped.

"Look, I didn't support this move. In fact, very few people around here did." She continued. "I know that you hold a very low opinion of NUBG, and I know that there's nothing I can say that will change matters, especially not after today."

"You got that right." Rose continued. "I mean, this is low, even by the standards I expect form you clowns."

"Ms O'Bannon, I want you to know this much. While you are here, I will do everything I can to at the very least, lessen your discomfort."

"Well that's reassuring."

"As I said, I didn't support this move." She continued. "But, there may be a positive light out of this. I may be able to... force matters to result in a change in NUBG leadership, one that would make sure that something like this doesn't happen again."

"Right. Sure you will."

"Believe me, Ms O'Bannon. I want the best outcome for all of us."

Despite the rather abrupt timeline given to them by the NUBG, Tasch, Stephen and Neil had managed to get all four of the Team's Zoids back into full working condition. They'd worked flat out over the last two days, with relatively little sleep and virtually no other breaks, pushing themselves to the limit of their endurance. Yet nobody had complained about the situation. They knew that they were doing it for another member of their team, one who was relying on them. And each of them knew that they others would happily do the same for them.

It wasn't something that they needed to communicate each other. Rather, it was an unspoken bond, one that they each acknowledged, the idea that no one of them would ever be left behind or abandoned to their fate. Despite their small squabbles and their arguments, the months of fighting together had bought them a lot closer, making them into more then just a team. They were friends, strong ones who would not just abandon the others to save themselves.

Finally, with about half an hour before the deadline, the last panel was closed, and the quartet of Zoids were ready for whatever the NUBG had planned for them.

"Well, we're done." Stephen stood back and admired his work. The repairs to the Iron Kong were by no means pretty, but they were otherwise complete. It'd still take a lot of finishing to make the machine look perfect, but for now it was fully functional - which was what really mattered.

"You know, I'll never, ever underestimate what you guys do again." Neil added. "Really. I was amazed to see you two in action there."

"Yeah, it's hard." Tasch finished. "But it ain't too hard, really, 'cause we still managed it. If it was too hard, then we wouldn't be standin' here sayin' how hard it was, 'cause we'd still be workin' on them."

"Very wise words." Neil commented.

"Right then. Let's go." Stephen added. "The NUBG won't wait for us."

Half an hour later, their two rental Gustavs were headed through the city, the four Zoids parked on their trailers. Tasch was driving one of them, with Stephen in the cockpit of the other. Neil rode in the cockpit of his Gunsniper, keeping an eye on his radar scope for any sign of the NUBG. In addition to Rose's Zoid, they'd also bought her pilot's suit. Nobody had dared say anything about what condition she'd be in, instead just hoping that she'd be okay and ready to fight.

Stephen's Gustav rounded a corner, stopping outside a large, derelict factory that had once been used to manufacture Zoid components. Looking over it, he checked his mapbook. "Well, this is the place." He began. "But I'm not seeing a thing on the radar. How about the rest of you?"

"Nothing here." Tasch began. "Well, 'cept for clutter from all the buildings. But I kinda expected all that."

"Well, my 3D scope isn't showing a thing either." Neil finished. "So what the frelnuts is going on here?"

"You don't think they stood us up, do you?" Stephen asked. "Or else..."

"Naw, I don't think it's that." Tasch added. "I think that we can trust 'em."

"Because they're criminals?" Neil began.

"Yeah but... they want us to get to their battle." She replied. "So they can sell the videos or something. So it don't make no sense to attack us here."

"I guess so... hold up." Neil continued. "I'm getting something." He peered into the scope. "Its a very faint return but... its definitely there."

"Where is it?" Stephen asked, glancing around.

"Ah hell! It's right in front of us!"

"Say what?" He turned back, only to see the air in front of his Zoid shimmer and ripple. A black shape materialised in front of him, looming over the Gustav's cockpit. He recognised the Zoid as being a Shadow Fox, a type that he'd seen the NUBG use in past. "Hey! What's going on here?" He shouted.

"You made it on time." A voice called out over the Shadow Fox's PA system, the same digitised voice as had been on the original threat. "Very good. My agent has come to make sure that you make it the rest of the way."

"So where are we supposed to go then?" Stephen began. "This can't be it."

"Not unless you guys are even dumber then you seem." Neil added, sarcastically.

"Open up your Gustav's navigation system." The voice continued. "And look up grid ref F7U3M."

"That's... that's in the middle of the desert outside of the city." Tasch began. "There ain't much of anything out there."

"More to the point, it's a ZBC restricted area." Stephen added. "What is this?"

"Well, it makes sense." Tasch spoke up. "I mean, the last place that I'd look for the NUBG is in a ZBC place, cause they wouldn't want to be there at all. Yeah, it makes perfect sense."

"Only if you're completely nuts." Neil muttered.

"You will head there for our battle." The voice continued. "My agent will track you and make sure that you stay on course. As an added incentive, he'll remain invisible throughout, so you won't know where he is. That way, if you try anything, you won't know where he is. He's only shown himself now to deliver this message." The Fox snarled then walked past the two Gustavs, shimmering and vanishing as it went. "So, shall we begin?" He added.

"We have no choice." Stephen finished. "Lets get on with this." He opened up the Gustav's throttle, the transport Zoid clanking and rumbling forwards. A moment later, Tasch's Zoid followed it. The pair of them rolled through the largely derelict industrial district, the same place that Rose and Neil had run through when escaping form the NUBG all those months ago.

"I wonder if they planned this for some ironic statement." Neil commented. "Or if they're even that creative."

"Just keep your eyes open." Stephen replied. "I still don't trust these guys."

"Yeah..." Tasch added. "I got a blip on the very edge of the scope though. I think its... hang on."

"What is it?" Stephen asked.

"I got static all over my scope." She continued. "You guys gettin' it?"

"Same." Stephen replied. "Neil?"

"Definitely." He shook his head. "These guys aren't messing around. They got someone out there making a lot of noise for our benefit."

"Probably just to make sure that we don't try shouting to the PKB or anyone else." Stephen continued. "Maybe they are smarter then we thought."

"Smart people wouldn't have escalated things like this." Neil began. "That's just plain rock stupid."

"More of dangerous, really." Tasch added. "'cause of all the Zoids and stuff."

"Stupid, dangerous and armed with top-of-the-line Zoids." Neil shook his head. "Nice combo."

The Gustavs left the city proper, instead heading out along a single long stretch of rather disused-looking highway that headed off into the distance. The maps showed that this was the only route to their destination, hading straight out to it in a single long, unbending stretch. The pair of transports, presumably along with their unseen escort, continued along the path for the better part of an hour, with nothing around save for the empty, dry earth.

In the distance, a single large structure loomed up on the horizon. Shimmering in the heat, its form was rather featureless, yet imposing, dominating the featureless plains around it. As they approached, the trio of pilots could see that it was similar in many ways to the massive main arena in the heart of the city. At the same time, it was clearly old and worn, having spent many years exposed to the elements with no maintenance.

"What in the heck is that?" Tasch asked.

"It's... the ZBC's first arena." Stephen replied. "It was built over fifty years ago, back when the Zoid battles really began to become popular."

"So what's it doing out here?" Neil asked.

"Back then, the city council didn't want Zoids walking around their city and had lots of concerns about holding battles inside it. So the ZBC were forced to build way out here. Over time things changed, so they relocated to inside the city, eventually to its heart. I don't think this place has been used in decades."

"Which is why we're havin' a battle here." Tasch finished. "'cause it's the very, very last place anyone'd think to look."

"Welcome to the NUBG stadium, my friends." The voice boomed out again. "Now hurry up and get inside. I'm eager to get things started." As they approached, the arena's front gates opened, as if to swallow their Zoids.

"This is it. There's no turning back after now." Stephen began.

"Good. 'cause I ain't going nowhere." Tasch continued.

"Damn right. Lets get in there, for Rose." Neil finished.

The two Gustavs rolled inside the arena, the door grinding shut behind them.


	14. Leave it to the professionals

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Fourteen - Leave it to the professionals

By Rick R.

oOoOo

The Gustavs entered the arena, then came to a halt inside a large staging room. There was only one way they could conceivably go, and it was, for the moment, blocked by a pair of large doors. The room itself was stacked high with storage crates, many of which looked like they'd been there a long time, but otherwise appeared to be empty.

"Okay, now what?" Neil began as he glanced around. "Unless the plan is to fight us in a broom closet, I'm figuring this isn't it."

"Hold up." Stephen replied. "I'm sure that they've got something in mind."

As if on cue, several armed guards emerged from behind the crates around the room, their weapons pointed at the two Gustavs. "I figure they might know what's happenin' next." Tasch began as she glanced around. "On account of them being NUBG types and all."

"Can't say much for their customer service." Neil commented. "Not a nice way to greet their guests."

"Yeah." Tasch added. 'Maybe a helpful litle exit sign or somethin' would have been useful. As it is, I ain't got any idea what's goin' on. Maybe they need an information desk here or, at least, a floorplan."

"Okay everyone, let's just stay calm." Stephen spoke up. "We're here for Rose's benefit. We're not going to help anyone by causing trouble."

"Fine then." Neil muttered. "Go for it if you know what to do."

"We're here on an invitation from your leader." Stephen called out across the PA system. "We've come for our team mate, who you kidnapped."

"Hold up." Someone began. Several soldiers muttered at each other, followed by one talking over his communicator. "Okay!" He called out. "Take your Zoids into the arena. Then she'll be bought to you."

"Great." Stephen muttered. "No turning back then."

"Not too bad.," Neil added. "Its a bit smarter then I'd given them credit for."

"Same." He sighed. He'd been hoping that they'd had over Rose here, which would, in turn, allow him to stage some sort of breakout without having to fight. Clearly, someone else had already thought of it.

"Yeah, but if they were that smart, would we be here in the first place?" Tasch asked as the doors to the central arena rumbled open. "Would they have kidnapped her to start with?"

"Verry wise words." Neil commented. "Of course, they probably didn't think of that."

"Okay, head into the arena." One of the guards called out. "Once you're in there, the prisoner will be released, then you will board your Zoids."

The doors finished opening, revealing the arena before them. It was larger then the one in the centre of the city, and quite different. Its sides contained actual seating, while its floor was covered in sands rather then the hard concrete of the city arena. The place looked very worn, and it was clear that it hadn't been used for years. "All right," Stephen began. "Let's get on with it. For Rose's sake."

"Yeah." Neil nodded. "Come on."

The two Gustavs rolled out, then stopped just outside of the arena doors. Behind them, the massive entrance slowly ground shut, sealing itself with a loud clang and a long hiss. Glancing around, the place looked to be deserted, with no sign of their would-be opponents. "So now what?" Neil asked.

"Let's get ready." Stephen replied. "No sense in hanging around here all day."

"Well, we don't have much of a choice." Tasch added. "I mean, it's not gonna take all day for a battle. Unless it's a very long one, or we got a lotta opponents." She opened the cockpit of her Gustav. "Dangit, its way too bright out here." Stepping out, she stood next to the Zoid's cockpit, dressed in her pilot suit with her sunglasses on. "And way, way too hot."

"Maybe if you didn't wear black all the time, you wouldn't be so hot." Neil added.

"I ain't wearing black." She replied. "Its a dull charcoal colour."

The Gunsniper shook its head in imitation of its pilot. "My mistake."

"Okay you two." Stephen added as he climbed out. "Let's just keep things calm for the moment and pay attention."

"Hold up..." Neil cut him off. "Something's happening."

A service entrance on one side of the arena opened up, a trio of figures entering. Glancing over to them, Stephen was able to make them out. Two of them were NUBG guards, like the ones that they'd seen outside. The third was clearly Rose, escorted into the arena by the pair of them. A tense silence hung over the arena as they approached, nobody daring to speak or do anything that might endanger their team mate. Finally, the two guards stopped right before the Gustavs.

"Rose." Stephen began.

"Hey." She nervously replied. "Hi guys... ummm.." She swallowed. "Sorry... I'm sorry about all this."

Stephen walked over to her, the two guards actually stepping back for a moment. While they were both armed, he was a lot larger then they were. Ignoring them, he waked straight over to his team mate. "Its okay..." he began. "Really, it is." And then, for want of anything else, he hugged her, holding her tightly.

"Stephen?"

"I was so scared, really I was." He quietly admitted. "I didn't know what to do... I don't know what I would do If anything happened to you. We... we're all here for you."

"Thanks." She managed. "All of you."

"Okay, break it up you two." One of the guards managed. "You've got her back. Now get to your Zoids and get ready."

Stephen released Rose, then stepped back. "All right then." He snarled. "But if I find-"

"-I'm fine, Stephen." Rose cut him off. "A little nervous, and in need of a good bath, but I'm fine. Really."

"All right." He finished. "We've got your gear in your Zoid, if you want. It'd probably be better to fight in and, well, I suspect you want to get changed anyway."

"Its cool. I've gotten dressed in worse." She smirked. "Try getting into and out of your gear in the cockpit of a Shield Liger... and then with someone else there."

"Wha?" He began, then realised what she'd said. "Oh, right."

Rose nodded. "Thanks, guys. I guess we'd better get ready, right?"

"Yeah." He finished. "We should." He turned and watched her walk over to her Liger, keeping an eye on her as she went. He didn't want to let her out of his sight, wanting to make sire that nothing at all happened to her before the battle. Even though they'd held up part of their deal by handing Rose back, he still didn't trust the NUBG. There was a feeling, like they were still going to pull something to make sure that they still lost the battle. The question was, what would it be?

Once the Liger's cockpit had hissed shut, he walked over to the Iron Kong. Clambering up the access ladder built into the Zoid's side, he stepped inside its cockpit and sealed it shut. Powering up the Zoid, he checked over its systems for the dozenth time, making sure that everything was operational before the battle started. _Okay, all looks good here, _he thought. _Nothing left to it but to fight it out._

"Everybody ready?" He asked across the comms channel.

"Ayup." Tasch replied.

"I'll never be ready for this." Neil added. "But my Zoid is, at least."

"Just let me at them, Stephen." Rose finished. "I'm itching to sink my teeth into them after wat they did."

_No way out now, _he thought. _The walls are too high for me to go over, and the doors to thick to blast, especially while we're being shot at ourselves. I guess we have no other option. _"Okay, guys. Lets end this." The massive Iron Kong stepped off the trailer, walking in front of the Gustav. The team's other Zoids formed up next to it; Rose's Liger and Neil's Gunsniper on one side, Tasch's Redler on the other.

oOoOo

Usually when the NUBG had a match away form its arena, Michael Heywood would watch it live from his office. However, today he had decided to go to the arena to personally oversee the destruction of this team that had given him so much grief.

The decision to use the old ZBC arena was his own, one that he thought was a stroke of pure brilliance. His reasoning was threefold. The first was that it put the ZBC team in a controlled environment that they couldn't escape, without risking them discovering any vital NUBG facilities. The second was that the arena's imposing size and classical design gave it a suitably epic feel, one that would look even better on the video presentation. The third was that, to his mind, it was a great way to 'stick it to the man' by showing that the NUBG could take a part of the ZBC and make it thier own.

He knew that this arena was rarely monitored by the ZBC. For the most part, they just watched it via remote systems and very rarely sent anyone over to it. Apart from storing a few stray items or overrun stock, it didn't have any real use anymore. The ZBC hadn't torn it down simply because they couldn't be bothered paying for it to be demolished. Last he heard, the plan was to let it decay naturally. To make sure that there was no risk at all, he'd paid off a few people to ensure that everyone would look the other way as his men moved in. He didn't mind; it was small change compared to what he was expecting to haul in form the tapes of this battle.

In the last twenty-four hours, NUBG technicians had been working themselves into a frenzy to refit the arena for the NUBG's use. They'd over-ridden and disabled the security systems, rigged up camera equipment and set up all the recording and on-site editing facilities that the NUBG would need. They'd also done a great job of refitting the mothballed VIP booth to Heywood's tastes, making sure that everything would be just perfect for their leader on his big day.

Michel sat on a big, soft leather chair that dominated the room, an expensive cocktail in his hand. Seated around him were his command staff, those closest to him who helped him run the NUBG. Rachel and Cole were seated to his right, while Shane and Julian were on his left. All of them were watching the arena proper, save for Rachel who was obsessively working at a laptop. He'd tried to tell her to switch it off, but she insisted that she had work to do.

_Shame... she's as hot as, but has no idea at all. _He shook his head. _But I bet she shags like a fox. So prim, so proper, so repressed... she's gotta be wild inside. _He smirked at her, then looked over the arena at the Zoids team at the far end.

"And here they are, folks." Heywood began, gleefully as he looked over the quartet of Zoids. "Just as I knew they would be." He took a sip from his drink, then put it down. Rubbing his hands together, he almost leered at the enemy team. "Kidnapping that pilot was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. By doing that, I've forced them to do what I want and made them play straight into my hands."

Rachel glanced at him. "Sir? Are you sure that you want to go through with this? I mean, its not too late-"

"Of course I am, Rachel. Stop being such a wimp and actually live for once." He grinned. "Our fans are going to go crazy over this. They've been wanting to see this team get destroyed for a long time. And when I do it, they'll want to see every moment of it."

"This, my friends, will be the greatest Zoids battle ever." He continued. There was a round of light applause from all those in the room, save for Rachel. She paid him almost no attention, still working away at her laptop.

"Rache?" He began.

"Sir?" She looked up.

"Can you at least try to feign some enthusiasm?" He stood, walking over to her.

"Sorry, Sir." She replied. "I'm still working on the financials of this-"

"They can wait, Rach." He replied, pushing the laptop shut. "There will be time for that later."

"Yes sir."

"For now, sit back and enjoy the match, and bask in my genius." He finished.

"I'm sure I will, sir." She nodded.

oOoOo

Rose glanced nervously across the empty arena from the cockpit of her Zoid. She was feeling a lot better now then she had in days, and not just from the change of clothes. Getting out of that cell, having the rest of the team come for her, being in the familiar cockpit of her Liger; all of these things made her feel a lot better then she had earlier. Of course, there was still one problem; they still had to fight the NUBG.

"What do you think they have planned for us?" She finally asked, breaking the nervous silence that had settled over the team. "Who do you think we'll be fighting?"

"Maybe it'll be one of the loser teams we've met before." Neil offered. "Or maybe they've got somone else saved up for us."

"Yeah... like the superweapon that you don't use until the very end when everything's real desperate." Tasch added. "'cept that don't make much sense to me. If you've got a superweapon, y'all should use it to start with, so then you won't be in the desperate situation at the end. Why don't people ever think of that?"

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A loud voice called across the arena, cutting off anyone before they could say anything. "Welcome to the NUBG arena for this very special match."

"Hey, this is a ZBC arena!" Rose called out.

"I don't think he cares." Neil replied.

"Today, we will see the end of one of the hottest rivalries in the history of Zoids battles. Today, the Broken Chairs, a lowly ZBC team that has managed to somehow defy the odds will face off against a special NUBG team in mortal combat. The stakes are high - if they win, they get to go free. If not, their Zoids will be taken by the NUBG."

"That sounds like the voice of the phone guy." Tasch began. "Yeah, mister shadow man, the one with the glasses."

"You can tell?" Stephen asked.

"Well, the voice is a little muffled through the loudspeakery thing." She continued. "But it sounds the same as the electronic distortion on the video message. So yeah, I'd say that it's the same guy."

"...you are recording all this, right?" He continued.

"Ayup." She nodded.

"And I'm feeding in radar logs to boot." Neil added. "So, if we do get out of here, we'll be able to tell all about it."

The main doors at the end of the arena opened with a loud clang, several shapes emerging from the shadows within. "Introducing their opponents, veterans of many NUBG battles and several clashes with the ZBC, the Crimson Claw." A trio of Zoids, a Murasame Liger, a supercannon-equipped Gojulas and a Shadow Fox - hopefully the same one as before - emerged, stopping at the end of the arena.

"That's it?" Neil began. "Three on four? And we've beaten these guys before, right?"

"This isn't right." Stephen shook his head. "They're not going to take us on with just this lot."

"From what I heard, they were pretty sure of themselves." Rose added. "There's got to be more to it then just this bunch."

"An' they ain't replaced the Lord Gale, an' he was their leader." Tasch noted. "So that's gotta mean somehtin'."

There was a second loud clang, another pair of doors on one side of the arena opening up. "Joining them are the Dark Hunters, a skilled specialist team who were responsible for the invasion of the ZBC's urban arena several months back." A Cannon Caesar emerged, followed by a Dimetrodon, a Snipe Master, a Cannonry Molga and a Guntiger. The Zoids headed to the end of the arena, joining the first group.

"Okay, this isn't looking too good." Neil began. "Two to one. Nice. They must have reail confidence in their pilots." His Gunsniper hissed at the enemy team, as if to underlie his mood.

A third door opened before anyone else could speak, another three Zoids entering. "And also joining them are the Bloody Fang team, a team composed of some of the best pilots in all of NUBG." A Rev Rapter carrying a pair of pile drivers, a Gravity Saurer and, most ominously, a red Matrix Dragon joined the others.

"Great." Neil added. "It's everyone who hates us at once."

"So much for a fair fight." Rose continued. "I suppose this is to make some sort of object lesson out of us or something, right?"

"I would assume so." Stephen finished. "Let me think this through..."

"Well, they got us more then three to one against." Tasch commented. 'And that ain't good."

"More then three to one?" Neil spoke up. "How do you figure that?"

"Well..." She replied. "There's four Zoids in the Matrix Dragon... so that makes fourteen of 'em."

"Makes perfect sense." Neil sighed. "Unfortunately."

"In past, this ZBC team has managed to overcome the odds every time against the NUBG." The announcer continued. "However, now things are stacked against them more heavily then ever before. Will they be able to overcome this situation and come out victorious? Or will the NUBG triumph and take all? This, folks, will be a truly epic confrontation. I urge you not to turn away for even a second, lest you miss even a bit of the action."

"Okay, this is it." Stephen stated. "I have a plan. Everybody, listen up..."

oOoOo

Michael Heywood watched with a smirk as the Monitor Drone floated into position above the middle of the arena. "Oh yeah." He began. "This... this is where the fun begins." He was really enjoying this, playing the villain. He needed to do it more often. _After this battle, maybe, it's time for a new look and a new direction for NUBG. _He thought. _Yeah, I'm getting some great ideas as well. _He also wouldn't admit it, but he was practically salivating at the idea.

The Drone took its position in the middle of the arena, slowly hovering its various cameras and sensors deployed. "The Broken Chairs versus the Crimson Claw, the Dark-"

The drone never got to finish its spiel, being instead swatted out of the air by the wash from the Iron Kong's twin tactical missiles as they flew past it. Sailing over the arena, the missiles came down in the middle of the cluster of NUBG Zoids, just as their pilots were figuring out what was going on. A pair of massive explosions ripped through the crowd of Zoids, scattering smaller machines along with clouds of powered concrete and shrapnel. The effect of the blast was devastating, to say the least.

The Molga was blasted aside, crashing to the ground on its flank, its tail and legs twitching in the air while one wheel was blasted clean away. The Guntiger flipped and bounced head over tail, its pilot being thrown clear of the machine after the first bounce. He rolled across the concrete, his padded plots suit taking the brunt of the impact; the Guntiger ended up flat on its back nearby.

The Rev Rapter fared the worst, however, being at near ground-Zero of the blast. The Zoid's legs and tail were blasted apart, the torso pitching forwards and crashing to the ground. One of the pile drivers smashed into the concrete, snapping off and remaining upright as the rest of the Zoid collapsed. Other machines in the NUBG formation were also peppered with debris, but managed to remain standing despite the blast.

Rachel looked down at her laptop, which was currently showing a tactical display of the arena. Three Zoids were showing as out of action, and a couple more were reporting systems damage. To cap it all off, the monitor hadn't regained control, and had crashed to the ground in the middle of the arena.

"What the hell was that?" Michael shouted, standing up and pointing at the battlefield, his face red with fury. "They... they cheated! They attacked before the battle was officially begun."

"Well, sir, it is technically a no-rules battle." Rachel calmly replied. "So we have to wonder if it can be called cheating.:"

"I..." He stopped and snarled. "Fine. Hey van blow up a couple of expendable undercarders. It doesn't matter." He turned back to the arena. "We'll get them. And we'll make them pay."

oOoOo

"Three down!" Stephen called out. "Now close in and try to hold off the rest! Move!" The Iron Kong bellowed as it charged forwards, thundering across the arena, its massive hammer knuckles crashing against the floor as it ran. His plan had been simple - fire off his tactical missiles before the enemy knew what was going on, and try to take down a few of them as quickly as possible. And while he hadn't managed to get any of their heavy hitters, taking out any of them was an advantage. And, as Neil had proven, the value of a small Zoid sniping at the flanks was not to be underestimated.

The second part of their plan was simple. Plough into the enemy formation and try to hit them while they were off-balance. More importantly, by closing in, it meant that the Gojulas couldn't use its supercannons - weapons that could handily take out any of their Zoids (or several at once) in a single volley. No chance of that.

Tasch's Redler screeched as it burst into one of its bizarre hopping runs before suddenly leaping into the air, its boosters firing as it charged towards the enemy formation. She opened fire with its twin cannons, the pulse canons spraying shots at the Matrix Dragon. Clearly disorientated, the Fuzor Zoid took several hits before leaping into the air, brilliant flames bursting from the quartet of boosters scattered across its body. Tasch pulled back on the stick, climbing after her opponent.

Several enemy Zoids turned to face her, opening fire on her machine. The Black Redler, stark against the clear blue sky, twisted and turned in the air, enemy fire streaking past it.

"They're going for Tasch!" Rose called out. "It's working!"

"Great!" He yelled back. "Now everyone, go!" The Iron Kong's left shoulder launcher flipped open, the missiles rippling forth from the launcher and flying towards the distracted and damaged opponents. Several shots peppered the Gojulas' flank, while a couple more smacked into the Murasame Liger and the Cannon Caesar. Not a knockout blow, but certainly enough to make them notice.

The Cannon Caesar turned back towards him, opening fire with its twin-barreled heavy beam cannon. Next to it, the Gojulas opened up with the twin cannons on its sides as well as the quad cannon on its arm. Firing the thrusters, Stephen swerved out of the path of the worst of it, but several shots still managed to strike the Kong's body. Ignoring them for now, he pressed forwards. "Rose, Neil, Go!"

The Liger and Gunsniper overtook his Zoid, both charging in on the enemy formation. Neil's Gunsniper let out a loud hiss as it charged in, the twin rocket pods on its back flipping open and disgorging their loads at the enemy formation. The rockets spread out, slamming into the Gravity Saurer, Dimetrodon and Cannon Caesar, managing to score a few good hits.

"Nice start, Neil!" Rose added. "Now to finish it!" Her liger roared loudly, the dual-barrelled impact cannon opening fire on the Gojulas. The shots hit the Zoid in the chest, managing to actually penetrate its thick armour. "Stephen, he's open!" She called out.

"Go for it!" He yelled back. If they could knock out the Gojulas early, then it would be a big bonus to their odds.

Roase's Zero charged forwards, its boosters flared wide open, its claws ready for the strike. As it leaped for the strike, however, there was a second loud roar. The Murasame Liger lunged forwards, its blade outstretched to parry the bow. The Zero's laser-charged claws scraped off the surface of the blade, scoring its surface but not apparently damaging it. The Murasmae swung its blade around again, Rose's Zero skipping backwards a moment to avoid the blow.

_My claws barely scratched that blade! _She thought. _What the hell is it made from?_

The Murasame Liger snarled, then lunged at Rose's Zoid, baring its fangs. Twisting the controls, she skipped out of its way before it could strike. Undeterred, the enemy pilot swung around the blade, opening fire with the two cannons built into the hilt. Several shots peppered the Zero's flank before Rose opened up the throttle, managing to twist out of the Murasame Liger's way.

"Okay, I so don't need this right now." She began. The Liger twisted, trying to get past its opponent. Unfortunately, the enemy Zoid seemed to be capable of matching her move for move. Rose pushed the Liger forwards, jumping towards the Gojulas in an effort to get past the Murasame liger. The enemy Zoid responded quickly, bounding into her path, then snarling loudly before lashing out with the sword in a wide swing. Rose twisted the controls, but was greeted with a sudden loud screech as the blade cleaved through the fin on the top of the Zero's head. Nervously checking over the board, she could see that the damage was purely cosmetic. _But still... that was far too close for comfort._

A pair of shots hit her Zoid in the back, causing it to stumble forwards. Glancing behind her, she could see the Gravity Saurer charging forwards, its bizarre loping gait giving it a look that would almost be comical if not for its array of heavy weapons. The Zoid fired again, Rose pushing open the throttle and firing the boosters just before its shots reached home. The Liger took off, pulling away from the Gojulas and Murasame Liger and instead breaking into a high-speed run.

The Murasame Liger and Gravity Saurer both took off after her, the pair of them opening fire with their own cannons at her Zoid. She twisted and swerved, managing to avoid the worst of it and reducing their potentially lethal fire to a few grazes and glancing blows. She fired back with her Zero's tail cannon, aiming less to knock her opponents out and more to discourage them from chasing after her. Several shots spun past the enemy Zoids, but a single round got lucky, blasting into the Gravity Saurer's lower leg. The enemy Zoid stumbled for a moment, giving her a small respite.

"Guys!" She called out over the communicator. "We've got-" a loud hiss and crackle of static over the channel cut her off. "Damn it!" Glancing around, she could see the enemy Dimetrodon at the back of their formation, its fin waving back and forth. _He's jamming us... that's gonna make things even worse._

Behind her, the Murasame Liger sped up, eating up the distance between the pair of them, with its own bizarre, bouncing run. Glancing at it, she could see that it was moving faster then her own Zoid, and without the aid of boosters or stabilisers either. _Ah hell. _The Zoid closed in, extending its blade in preparation for a strike. _Damn... I don't know how much longer I can keep this up._

oOoOo

Ever since her last battle with the Matrix Dragon. Tasch had been trying to figure out a way to deal with fighting another one. While the enemy Fuzor was slower then her own Zoid and carried less armour, it was more agile and a lot more flexible. It also carried a lot more weapons and, unlike her Redler, could bring them to bear in just about any direction. Finally, to top it all off, it had four crew, which put her at a massive disadvantage.

In Zoids battles, Zoids almost always went into the arena wit just a single pilot having a full crew would mean sharing competition points, which meant that each pilot would get a lot less out of it. The only exceptions were Fuzor Zoids, which often (but not always) were fielded with their full crew. This allowed them to divide up their workload; they could have different pilots operating different systems, each able to give their full attention to a single task rather then trying to do everything at once.

There was another, lesser documented advantage, one that the Matrix Dragon exploited to its fullest. Because it had four different cockpits in four separate locations, its pilots had a far greater field of view around them. This was a tremendous advantage in areal combat, allowing them to watch the skies all around their Zoid, meaning that it was very hard to sneak up on it. One pilot looked above and ahead, one below and behind, and one to each side. In the meantime, she had to keep her eyes open all around her.

The Redler soared into a climb, its throttle all the way open and its boosters firing. The red Matrix Dragon soared after it, opening fire with its various weapons. Winging over, she pulled the Redler into a sharp turn, twisting the boosters to bring it around as tightly as possible. The Zoid dived down, opening fire with its own cannons while several smaller rounds pinged off its body. The Dragon reacted quickly, however, its body twisting out of the line of fire.

Slewing the footpedals which controlled the boosters, she bought the Zoid around in a tight circle, keeping her noes pointed at the enemy Fuzor as she turned. The Matrix Dragon reacted quickly, rearing up and twisting around, keeping its own guns pointed at her. She rolled over, opening fire again with the two pulse cannons. This time she was more successful, several shots striking the enemy Zoid before it rolled out of her way. The Redler surged forwards, passing by the enemy Fuzor.

The dragon spun around, opening fire with the two handguns on its neck as Tasch's Zoid passed it. Several shots struck her Zoid on its back and tail, but none posed a threat as yet. Ignoring it for now, she kept the boosters open, speeding away form the enemy Zoid. The Matrix Dragon spun around, powering after her but rapidly being left behind.

_Yeah... that's the trick. _She thought. _Now this is gonna sound crazy, but I want y'all to open fire on me... _She had a plan; it was a risky one but she hoped she could pull it off. _An' then when you've started shootin'... then I've got y'all._

Several alarms went off in the cockpit as the Matrix Dragon launched its wing-mounted missiles at her. _Perfect, _she thought as she watched the scope, sighting the twin trails of the missiles as they closed in on her Redler from behind. _Okay... so I got a smaller signature then a stock Redler, which is a plus... now all I gotta do is get through this... Okay, Tasch, get it together._

She sped up as the missiles closed in, wanting to lead them as far as possible while being fully aware that she could never outrun them, even with the boosters engaged. Instead, she waited until they were nearly upon her, then twisted the boosters as hard as possible. The Redler came around, the missiles speeding past her and unable to react fast enough. As the Redler passed them by, they lost sight of her Zoid and simply sped on.

_Now I gotcha! _She thought to herself as she powered forwards, pulling into a steep climb. Seeing what she was up to, the Matrix Dragon climbed after her, but Tasch was clearly leaving it behind. The Redler powered away, then looped over, diving at speed towards the enemy Zoid. She opened fire again, managing to catch the Dragon on the way down with several hits to its side and back before it twisted in the air. As she approached it, she again pulled away as the enemy Zoid tried to follow her. The Matrix dragon turned around, lashing out with its cannons again as she passed.

_Close, but not so close that its bad, _she thought. _Okay, now for the next part. _The Redler pulled away, again leaving the enemy Zoid behind as she fired the boosters. The Matrix Dragon followed after her, but again dropped back, just as she knew it would. In her reading up on the subject, shed managed to come across a similar historical situation of faster but heavier and less agile aircraft managing to beat out slower but far more agile ones. It was in a war between two old earth countries, where their aircraft were similarly mismatched.

The enemy planes, called Zeroes, were very agile - which seemed apt to Tasch, as Liger Zeroes also were very agile, but were slow and very fragile. The planes of the other side were solid and clumsy, but a lot faster. So their pilots hadn't tried to dogfight - they'd instead used their speed to climb on their enemies, dive at them and pull away using their superior speed. The situation, she'd found, mirrored hers.

With the Matrix Dragon having expended its missiles, the Zoid had no way to easily take her out at long range. She'd had to force it to use them on her, which was a calculated risk. However, it had definitely paid off, which meant that she had the advantage. _Okay, all I gotta do is get him now. Yeah... still hard though._

The Redler looped over and dived towards the enemy Fuzor, ready to strike. At the same time, the Matrix Dragon climbed straight up towards her, trying to close in the distance between the two of them. She lined it up for a shot, but, before she could, the Matrix Dragon's shoulders erupted into a cloud of smoke and flames. "The heck?" She began as the Zoid discharged its twin rocket launchers, more then a dozen rounds soaring up towards her Zoid.

She pulled hard on the stick as she twisted the footpedals, trying to swerve the Zooid out of the way of the attack. Several rounds streaked past her, but a number more struck the Redler's body and exploded. The force of the blasts slammed the Zoid, smashing it out of the air and sending into a spin. Ignoring the Matrix Dragon for the moment, Tasch instead concentrated on getting her own machine under control. Twisting the boosters, she fired them to try to counter the Redler's own spin while trying to set the controls to right the machine.

The Redler continued to spin, loosing altitude rapidly. Glancing around, Tasch could see the arena coming towards her with speed, while the Matrix Dragon closed in behind her. The G-forces pushed her into the back of her seat, pressing against her and hammering her in. Trying to remain focused, she kept pulling the stick back, trying to get the Zoids nose up and regain control of it.

Twisting in the air, her Zoid rolled over, then righted itself, its nose coming up. She fired the boosters, pulling away from the ground and trying to gain as much speed and altitude as she could. However, her opponent was ready for her. The dragon closed in, opening fire with its main cannons on her Zoid. Several more shots hit the body before she could get out of the way.

"This... this ain't gonna be easy." She shook her head as she tried to throw of the enemy Zoid. "Okay Tasch. Gotta get it together. Get it together..."

oOoOo

The Gojulas opened fire again, its three cannons spitting fire at Stephen's Zoid. Twisting out of the way, he managed to avoid the worst of it; several shells slammed into the Kong's side, but most of them weren't enough to penetrate the armour. Grunting, he bought the Zoid around, opening up on the Gojulas with the pulse cannons. Several shots struck the Gojulas, but seemed not to do too much to it either.

Beofre he could follow through, several shots struck the Kong in the side. Turning around, he sighted the Cannon Caesar which had managed to slip past him. The smaller dinosaur Zoid growled as it opened fire with the dual-barrelled beam cannon on its back, the shots slamming into the Kong's back.

_They've actually thought this one through, _he figured to himself. _So they coordinate their fire and try to bring us down. I'd be nice if they weren't aiming to kill us._

Seeing no choice, he fired the boosters, leaping past the two Zoids. As the Kong took off, her turned and fired the Hyperbeam cannon at the enemy Gojulas. The shot streaked past the Zoid, striking the arena floor instead, carving a long dark furrow in the sand.

The Kong came down behind the Cannon Caesar, dropping out of the Zoid's main firing arc. To Stephen's surprise, however, the smaller Zoid spun around, its tail facing directly at his Zoid. Several cannons mounted on the Caesar's back and legs opened up, paring fire into the Kong before it could react. Weapons scored into the chest and arms, not penetrating the armour but stll damaging it.

_Hell, I hadn't expected that. _The Caesar was such an old and obscure Zoid that Stephen knew very little about it. Certainly he hadn't expected it to have as much firepower facing backwards as it did forwards. He swung around, trying to get out of its firing arc, the pulse cannon firing shots into its side and flank.

Instead, to his surprise, the Cesar leaped out of his way; not jumping on thrusters like his Kong did, but more like a kangaroo's leap, the shots blasting through the space where it had been. The Zoid landed next to the Gojulas, pivoting around to bring its weapons to bear on him. The two Zoids opened fire, pouring shots onto the Kong.

Stephen was rocked inside the cockpit as shots tore into his machine, hammering the armour on the chest and arms. While none of the shots penetrated, they did a great job of tearing up his armour. He broke away, the Kong running rather then concentrating on standing and shooting. Managing to run past several shots. he turned and opened fire with the grenade launder mounted on top of the gun. The rounds shot out, blasting into both the Caesar and the Gojulas. This time they had a more noticeable effect - but still not enough to put them down.

Glancing around, he could see that the others were in a similar situation to him. Rose was busy dancing between the Murasame Liger and the Gravity Saurer, both of which were trying to pin her down with their own weapons before finishing her off. Neil was being pursued by both a Snipe Master and a Shadow Fox, the latter of which was, to his surprise, not bothering to conceal itself. _Maybe he's just that confident, _Stephen thought. _I can't blame him._

There was no sign of Tasch, both her and the Matrix Dragon having moved well beyond the arena in their battle. He could imagine that she'd have her hands full, however. He wasn't sure how she'd managed to take it out the first time, but he knew that it would not be an easy battle by any standards.

He charged in, trying to power his way past the Cannon Caesar to get at the Gojulas. His hope was that the smaller Zoid's pilot would (sensibly) get out of the way, rather then standing his ground against a Zoid that weighed twice as much. It worked to a degree, the Zoid leaping to one side to let him past.

However, it then pivoted around on its feet, a trio of long claws suddenly extending out form its forearm. The Caesar swiped at the Kong, slicing into the Zoid's side. Thrown off balance, the Kong slipped and stumbled, before regaining its footing - only to have the Cesar and Gojulas open fire on him again.

_There has to be some way past these guys._

oOoOo

From his seat in the VIP booth, Michael Heywood looked down over the battlefield, grinding his teeth in frustration. It wasn't that his men were loosing that was bothering him. They were winning, something which should have made him happy. The problem is that they weren't winning _enough. _By now they should have slaughtered that ZBC team and laid them to waste. Even after the Kong's missile strike, they still had their enemies outnumbered two-to-one.

It wasn't enough that they were wearing down their opponents. Instead, they should have cut them down and reduced them to wreckage by now. He could see that the Broken Chairs were outnumbered, but they were doing a very good job of keeping themselves alive - something that he didn't want. His men would win eventually, but it wouldn't be the quick, decisive, visceral victory they wanted. Instead, it would be a long, boring and drawn out affair, something that he hated.

"How are they doing?" He asked.

"Every Zoid on the field is damaged." Rachel commented. "The Redler seems to be doing particularly badly, but... it's still got a lot of fight left in it. They all do."

"Crap." He shook his head. "This is total crap, this was meant to be my best battle ever, but they're ruining it!" He turned around. "Those twerps down there should be ripping those ZBC clowns apart, not fighting running battles and wearing them down! They should be shredding them, stomping them, slicing them up... anything but what they're doing."

"They're doing as best they can, I'm sure." She continued.

"Well then that's just not good enough, Rachel." He snapped. "Damn it, they need to be better. What they need... is motivation."

He walked over to the back of the room, then returned a moment later with a portable communicator. "If they can't be arsed fighting like true killers normally, then I will damn well give them a reason." He continued. "They should be ruthless monsters, not a bunch of pansies. They should throw themselves into this battle. And there's one way to make them do that."

He activated the communicator. "This is the boss." He began. "I am placing a bounty on the head of each ZBC Zoid you bring down. Whoever brings one Zoid down will get twice the normal prize money. If you bring down two of them, then you will get four times the normal prize money. If you get three, then it will be eight times. And, if by some miracle, you manage to kill all four yourself, then you will get sixteen times the normal prize money." He grinned. "So get you there and kill them. Rip 'em apart, and don't stop until they're dead!"

Rachel glanced nervously at Cole. He nodded, then turned back to Heywood.

He put down the communicator and turned back to the assembled crowd. "And that, my friends, is how you do it. That's how you turn wimps into killers. Pure, simple greed. Everyone has their price, and I have found theirs" He smirked. "And now, given this little incentive, I think we'll see what the NUBG's pilots are really capable of."

oOoOo

Thomas Stahl didn't like fighting like this. Arena battles weren't his place, and he certainly didn't like to be out in the open like this. He preferred a battlefield where he could hide and lurk, then pluck off unsuspecting opponents before they saw him coming. Even though they had the enemy pilots outnumbered two-to-one, he still wasn't happy with matters.

His Snipe Master scurried across the arena, just behind the enemy Gunsniper. He had to give his opponent credit; they were good at running and evading, which meant that they had stayed alive a lot longer then he had expected. _Of course, _he figured, _if I was allowed to fight this battle the way I preferred matters, then he would be dead by now._

Twisting the boosters, he leaped to one side of the Gunsniper and opened fire again with the twin pulse cannons. Several shots struck the enemy Zoid's side and leg, staggering it. The Gunsniper skidded and stumbled, one of its legs clearly damaged by the assault. _And now he's mine, _he thought. Finishing off the Zoid that had caused him so much trouble during the urban arena battle would be a very satisfying conclusion. Getting the bounty that Heywood had offered would just be a bonus.

_Time to say good- _"WHAT?" He yelled out as the Crimson Claw's Shadow Fox leaped right in front of his Zoid, interposing itself between him and the Gunsniper. "What the hell are you playing at, McSmith?"

"Simple, man." The Shadow Fox's pilot replied, an arrogant, bragging tone in his voice. "I'm taking that guy down myself." The Shadow Fox's top turret popped up and swivelled towards the Gunsniper.

"Like hell you are!" Stahl shouted back. "I did all the work! All you did was run around and blow smoke at people!" The Snipe Master hissed, then charged forwards. He fired his boosters, then vaulted over the Shadow Fox... and straight into the line of fire of the enemy Zoid. Several shots peppered the Snipe Master's flank and chest, causing the Zoid to stagger back and crash into the Shadow Fox.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mortimer shouted, the fox growling at the Snipe Master.

"Trying to stop him form getting away, you moron!" Thomas snapped back as the Gunsniper broke into a hopping run. "Which he's only doing because you were so damned stupid!"

"Hey, I had him until you came along!"

"You?" Thomas snapped. "I had him until your dammed Fox ran in font of me!" The Snipe master took off, breaking into a run after the Gunsniper.

"Hey! You're not taking my kill!" Mortimer yelled back, opening up the Fox's throttle. The vulpine Zoid overtook the Snipe Master, closing in on the fleeing Zoid. "And I'm gonna make sure of it. See ya, sucker." He grinned as he fired one of the smoke dischargers. A thick cloud of black smoke billowed out from the Shadow Fox's tail, enveloping the Snipe Master.

"You bastard!" Stahl yelled out. "Damn it!" He kept the throttle open, trying to get past the Fox or out of the cloud. At the same time, Mortimer McSmith kept weaving around, making sure that the Snipe Master remained covered. Snarling to himself, he checked his sensors to see if he could get a clean shot at the target. Unfortunately, while he could still see the Gunsniper on the scope, there was no sign of the Shadow Fox - its stealth systems meant that it was evading detection by him.

He closed the throttle, the snipe master hopping to a halt, instead letting the Shadow Fox run ahead. "Damn you, you moron." He muttered. Quietly, he wondered if he could get a grudge match against Mortimer once this battle was over. _Ah hell... its his fault if he gets himself killed. in fact, it may just serve him right._

oOoOo

Neil glanced back at the Shadow Fox that was behind him, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Near as he could tell, the enemy Snipe Master had him dead to rights... and then the Fox had cut him off. The two seemed to be at odds over this bizarre strategy, which suited Neil fine. He'd run away, then the two of them had engaged in a rather nonsensical chase which had amounted to them trying to out do each other and get to him first. In the process, they'd inadvertently helped him out.

"Hey guys..." he began, but was greeted by the crackle of static. _Great, just when I actually have something worth saying, I don't have any way to report it. Wonderful. _Glancing back, he could see the Fox closing in on him. Oddly enough, the Zoid hadn't used its Beam Vulcan as yet. _Probably wants to finish me off with his claws or something stupid like that, just to prove how much of a man he is. _Neil shook his head. _Okay, time for a plan._

He twisted sharply to the right, the Gunsniper's damaged leg squealing as the Zoid's weight shifted. Still trailing black smoke after it, the Shadow Fox sprinted right past it, then skidded as it tried to slow down and come around, Taking advantage of the situation, Neil opened fire on the enemy Zoid as it slipped on the soft sand. Shots tore into its flank and hip, shredding armour and structure. The Fox stumbled and fell, down but not out.

As it stumbled, the enemy pilot bought around the Beam Vulcan, aiming it at his Zoid. Taking off before he could fire, Neil darted into the smoke cloud, hiding himself from the enemy Fox. Dashing out the other side, he saw the Snipe Master waiting there, its cannons levelled at him. "Ah crap!" he shouted, firing the boosters and pushing open the throttle. The Gunsniper leaped into the air, hoping over the Snipe Master before landing.

Unfortunately, as he came down the right leg made more bad noises, with red lights popping on across the board. "Ah hell!" He called out. "That wasn't what I wanted..."

The Snipe Master spun around to finish him off. However, before it could strike, the damaged Shadow Fox bolted out of the smoke, heading after him. Its pilot mustn't have seen its supposed ally though the smoke, as the fox simply ploughed into the Snipe Master from behind. The smaller Zoid fell backwards onto the Fox, knocking both of them down.

"Bonus." He grinned as the pair of them struggled to untangle themselves. Spinning around, he opened fire on the pair of them again with the arm and chest cannons. Shots tore into the two Zoids, blasting apart one of the Snipe Master's boosters while also hammering into the Fox's body. Snarling loudly, the Fox shook under several hits before standing, throwing the Snipe Master off. Bringing around its own Vulcan, it opened fire at Neil's Zoid.

He twisted the controls and fired the boosters again, the Gunsniper taking off as the first few blasts tore into the sand around him. Looking behind him, he saw the Fox stumble as its damaged leg gave way, while the Snipe Master also struggled to make it to its feet. _Okay, so I didn't get either of them, but thy have to be looking pretty bad for it. _He smiled to himself. _So maybe we're not all completely doomed... at least, not for a few more minutes._

oOoOo

Gavin Fort grinned as he lined up a shot on the damaged Redler, waiting till the Zoid was in the middle of his sights before firing. Seeing a chance, he squeezed the trigger. The assault rifle fired, the Redler twisting at the last possible minute to avoid the shot. Not bothered, he hammered the trigger as the dragon turned, trying to keep a bead on the enemy Zoid. The Redler twisted again, however, managing to drop past the dragon and out of his line of sight.

"It's behind us!" Bruno called out over the comms channel. "It's dropped back to our six!"

"She thinks she can escape?" He muttered. "Get her, Bruno!"

"Right!" The Dragon's chainsaw tail swiped at the Redler as it tried to close in, narrowly missing the enemy Zoid. It dropped further back, the pilot clearly warded off for the moment.

"Stupid cow... she shouldn't be in that Zoid anyway." He muttered as he twisted the stick. The Dragon bent and twisted as it pulled around a tight turn, opening fire with the two handguns. "I should show her what a real man can do!" Several shots narrowly missed the Redler, which rolled over and tried to escape from him.

"She's on our right!" CJ called out. "Trying to get under us!" The Dragon's right leg lashed out, its claws scything through the air. While it passed nowhere near the enemy Zoid, it was enough to force it to drop back again, and buy them another chance. "I've got ya now!" he added as extended out the right arm, firing over the shoulder with the handgun mounted on it. This time the shots came closer, several of them spanging off the Redler's body.

"Yeah, boss!" CJ continued excitedly. "I've got her now!"

_Yeah... and we can share the prize... _Bruno thought. _Or..._

One of the biggest advantages of the Matrix Dragon was its redundant cockpits. The crew could split their workload which made the Zoid more efficient and more capable. If need be, everything could be run from the one cockpit, but it simply worked better if the tasks were divided up. Butch, however, had a master override switch in his cockpit, which could be used to distribute what was controlled by which cockpit or, as he punched in commands, to reroute everything through his cockpit and lock out the others.

"Heh... I've got you now, you stupid cow." He grinned. "And with those clowns locked out, the bounty is all mine." A hail of protests flooded across the communications channels, but he ignored them for now. As soon as he'd bought down the Redler - and he knew that it was just a matter of time - then he'd let them back in. Maybe. Unless there were other enemy Zoids he could easily bag...

"Oh yeah. Come to me. Gimme my money, baby." He fired the throttle, closing in on the enemy Zoid. Forgoing the cannons, he wanted to get up close and personal, the way he preferred to fight. Pulling around, he closed in on the Redler, again lining it up.

He squeezed the trigger, a gout of flame bursting from the Dragon's mouth towards the enemy Zoid. The first jet went wide, searing past the Redler's wing. A second burst came even closer, just barely missing it. Undeterred, he tried to close in, extending out the Dragon's claws.

"Hey Gavin!" CJ called out. "There's something approach-"

"Shut up you little snot!" He shouted. "I'll deal with her myself!"

"But-"

"Shut up!"

"Its not that!" He whined. "It's-"

"If this is that stupid damned supposed Gilvader then I don't want to hear about it!" He shouted. "I'm sick to death of the lot of you! You're a bunch of whiney little brats who couldn't fight your damned way out of a wet paper bag! So just shut the hell up, and leave this to me!"

The dragon surged forwards, its claws outstretched as if it was trying to grab the Redler. One arm swiped at it, the strike laser claws scything over the Redler but barely missing it. A second one came even closer, nicking its body. "Ha!" He yelled out. "Now I have you!"

Snarling, the Dragon prepared to lunge at the Redler. It didn't get the chance, however. As it was about to strike, Tasch flipped up the tailblade, literally straight into the dragon's face. The blade sliced through the Dragon's head, cutting it in half.

"What the- Ah hell!" Gavin shouted out as his sensors suddenly went off line. Unlike most Zoids, the Matrix Dragon could function without its head, since its cockpits were scattered and its cores located within its body. However, its removal did cut off all the sensory info that the pilot needed to control the Zoid. Without it, he was effectively flying blind. "Crap! You bloody bi-"

He was cut off as the Redler suddenly rolled over, passing over the dragon before slamming into it, its razor-sharp claws digging into its body. His ears were filled with a horrific screeching noise as the Redler dug in its claws, then pulled away, ripping out massive chunks of its structure with it. The dragon began to spiral, one of its damaged wings tearing free from its body as it plummeted to the desert below.

oOoOo

The Iron Kong's cockpit rang with noise as more cannon shells struck the Zoid's chest. While not penetrating the armour, a glance at the monitor told Stephen that they didn't have too far to go. The protection over the Zoid's body was all but gone, seemingly more holes then armour. _A few more, and I'm through, _he thought. _Not good._

As near as he could tell, the only advantage to the situation was that the Cannon Caesar and the Gojulas seemed to be jostling to finish him off. They could be concentrating their fire, but instead each one of them were trying their best to take him out on their own. It was a minor releif, but not one that would last him very long. Sooner or later, one of them would and the finishing blow. His job was to make it take as long as possible.

The Kong sprinted away from the Gojulas, opening fire with its wrist-mounted cannon as it went. The shots peppered the massive Zoid's flanks and torso, but failed to penetrate its armour. Still, it managed to distract the pilot, which was more then he hoped for. _If I'm lucky, I might be able to take one of them with me, _he thought.

The Gojuals swung around, opening fire with its quad-barrelled impact cannon. The shots narrowly missed the running Zoid, instead tearing up the ground next to it. The Cannon Caesar, however, was more fortunate. The Zoid opened fire with its head and back cannons, shots blasting into the Kong's flank and leg. Stephen's Zoid stumbled, managing to stay upright.

He turned back to the Cannon Caesar, and opened fire on it. The enemy pilot was ready, the Zoid making a series of bizarre hopping steps to leap out of his line of fire. It swung around, firing again with the massive twin barrelled cannon. One of the rounds struck the Kong in the shoulder, further staggering it.

_Not much for it now, _he thought. _Gotta... wait, what's that noise?_

There was a high-pitched whine followed by the sound of jet engines. _That's not Tasch or the Matrix Dragon, _he thought. _So what is it? _The engines passed over him with a loud roar, which seemed to grow, becoming lowering pitch, yet louder. Then it turned into a different sound altogether, a loud, roar like that of a wild animal. It was one he recongised, similar to Rose's liger Zero, but a lot louder.

The ground shook as something landed in front of his Zoid, between it and the Cannon Caesar. Standing there, growling loudly was a new Zoid, one that had apparently dropped straight from the sky. Its form was vaguely similar to the Zero, quadruped and feline in from, but the similarities ended there. It was far larger, and lacked the Zero's clean lines. Instead, its black, red and silver body was formed into rather dramatic, almost organic curves with an enlarged mane that washed over a pair of massive drums built into its shoulders. A pair of orange wings were folded across its back, while a golden horn and blade spurted from its head.

He realised what it was. An Energy Liger, one of the most powerful Zoids ever created.

"We... we have to fight that thing too?" Rose asked out loud.

oOoOo

Up in the VIP lounge, Heywood stood, staring in slack-jawed horror at the sight below him. A new Zoid, this Energy Liger, had dropped out of the sky, landing in the middle of his battlefield. This wasn't a part of his plan. This wasn't supposed to happen. That Zoid shouldn't be there. "What..." he began, fear colouring his voice. "What... what is that thing doing here?" He began, almost shouting in panic.

"That's not-" Rachel began, then glanced at Cole. The look on his face, and the jagged scar on his chest, told her everything she needed to know.

oOoOo

The Energy Liger stood motionless in the middle of the battlefield as, all around it, combat came to a halt. Both sides simply stopped to look at this machine which had intruded into this conflict. It had come without a warning, without any threats or introduction. It was as if it had just materialised out of thin air.

The Liger growled loudly, an audible thrumming sound coming from the two drums mounted on its back. The noise built, increasing in both pitch and frequency as the drums built up speed, pumping energy into the Zoids systems. As they worked, they began to glow a bright orange colour, the Zoids eyes and wings matching them.

Then its twin cannons fired, the shots tearing into the Cannon Caesar's flank. The shots blasted into the smaller Zoid, ripping its leg apart and puncturing its torso. The bizarre tyrannosauroid was lifted into the air, then crashed to the ground, smoke and flames billowing out from the wreckage of its torso. The Energy Liger roared loudly, as if boasting of its kill to those around it. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the massive Zoid broke into a run, charging across the arena. It charged straight at Rose's Liger, as if to bear down on it.

"Wha- hell!" Rose called out, opening up the throttle and firing the boosters. Her liger took off, charging back towards the Gojulas and Gravity Saurer. She didn't care where she was going, as long as it was away from the monster that had suddenly appeared in the midst of the arena. "Get away from me!" She yelled.

The Energy Liger ignored her, however. Instead, it opened fire on the Murasame Liger which had been standing behind it. The shots tore into the Zoid's flank, shredding the armour over its side and hip, leaving devastated components and oily black smoke in their wake. Staggered, the Liger broke into a run, trying to get away form its attacker. It was out of luck.

Roaring loudly, the Energy Liger leaped on its smaller foe and crashed down on its back. The huge Zoid sunk its fangs and claws into its back, ripping into its body. The Murasame Liger roared out for a moment, then was silenced as the Energy liger continued its assault. Its blade was torn free from its body, followed by a whole leg and portions of the head armour.

"I think..." Stephen began, nervously. "I think its on our side." He looked at the Zoid as it stood, portions of the Murasame Liger's frame still hanging from its jaws. "At least... I hope it is."

oOoOo

"That's..." Shane began as he looked down at the wreckage of the Murasame Liger. "That's the Zoid that got us."

"Yeah..." Julian replied. "Damn it, it has to be."

"No doubting it." Heywood continued. "That's the one who's been messing in my stuff. That's the one who's been taking out other NUBG teams. That's the one which has caused me so much greif." He turned back to the four of them. "That Zoid is the cause of all our problems."

"So then..." Julian continued, a confident smirk on his face. "Hows about we go down there and get us some payback?" He asked. "Not just for us, but for all of the NUBG."

"Yeah, I like it." Shane replied. "I feel like a little bit of payback myself." Normally he was a lot less aggressive then Julian, but right now, he was in a bad mood. After how long it had taken them to get his Dark Spiner back together, he had been looking for a chance to bust someone up over it. And taking it out on the Zoid that had been responsible was, to his mind, just perfect.

"Well then get on down there." Heywood replied, his fear now replaced with a confident swagger. "And kick its arse."

The pair of them stood, Julian chuckling to himself. "You got it boss. Last time, we didn't him us coming. This time, well... lets just say that things are on a far more even footing."

"Let's go." Shane finished. "I bet I can take him down first."

"You're on." Julian replied as the pair of them headed to the door.

"Good idea." Heywood smirked, then picked up his communicator. "All NUBG Pilots!" He called out. "I'm placing an additional bounty on the head of that Energy Liger. Whoever kills it will be paid ten times the usual prize money, in addition to anything else that they get."

Rachel considered matters, turning to Cole. "Do you think that they can handle it?"

"I think that you'd better be ready yourself." He replied.

oOoOo

Seeing the Cannon Caesar's wreckage hit the arena floor, Stephen turned back to the Gojulas. While still larger ten his own Zoid, all of a sudden the enemy machine looked a lot less intimidating then it had before. _And, as long as that Energy Liger is on our side, then it gives me a good chance. _The Iron Kong grunted loudly as a form of challenge, before dropping onto its knuckles and breaking into a run towards the enemy Zoid. _He's still got those Supercannons, which means that he can stll kill me easily with them. So let's not give him a chance._

The enemy Zoid stood its ground, instead lowering the twin cannons to fire on Stephen's machine. The Gojulas rocked as the cannons fired, the two plasma energy blasts tearing towards his machine. Anticipating the enemy's move, Stephen stomped on the foot pedals that controlled the Iron Kong's boosters, firing them. The Zoid leaped out of the way moments before the shells blasted into the space where it had been, tearing apart the arena floor.

The Kong came down, firing its Hyperbeam Cannon as it landed. The shot seared through the enemy Zoid's flank, ripping apart one of its dual cannons before tearing into its backpack. Wounded, the Zoid staggered with smoke billowing form the rent in its side. It wasn't a killing blow but it wounded it badly, which was enough for Stephen. _That's evened the odds somewhat, _he thought. _Now to finish it off._

His Zoid surged forwards, heading straight for the Gojulas. He knew that taking it on in close combat was a risk but, at the same time, it was still a lot better an option then a straight-out gunfight against a supercannon-armed foe. Many pilots underestimated the Gojulas in close combat; its massive bulk and ponderous speed belied an almost frightening agility and tremendous hitting power. However, for all its strengths, Stephen knew that the Kong was just a little bit more capable up close. It was that edge which he was counting on.

The two Zoids traded shots as they closed in; The Gojulas opening up with its quad cannon and its remaining autocannon while Stephen fired off the twin pulse cannons. The shots scored armour off both Zoids, but didn't achieve much beyond that. Closing in, he fired the boosters again for a short hop, swinging the massive Zoid's armoured fist around at his opponent.

The Iron Kong's reinfroced hammer knuckle collided with the side of the Gojulas' head with a resounding crash, the Zoid's thick armour buckling and crushing under the force of the blow. The Gojulas staggered back, as if stunned by the blow. Not wasting time, Stephen swung again, smashing into the Zoid's flank with the other arm. Again the other machine staggered before recovering.

The Gojulas roared, then lunged forwards, swiping with its massive claws. The left arm tore across the Kong's chest, gouging into the thick armour with a hideous scraping noise. The left came around to follow up, but instead was intercepted midway by the Kong's arm. Stephen grabbed the Gojulas' claw in his Kong's hand, holding it in place. "Don't..." He snarled. "Don't you people ever, and I mean ever, cross us again." The Kong pushed forwards, the Gojulas' arm squealing out with the shriek of tortured metal. "You understand?" The Zoid swung around with its other arm, again smashing into the Gojulas' side.

Battered but unbowed, the Gojulas swung around with its massive tail, smashing into the Iron Kong's flank. The force of the blow caused Stephen's Zoid to stumble, releasing its grip on the Gojulas' claw. Clearly more confident, the pilot lashed out again at the Iron Kong, swiping at it with the claws. Two blows tore into the Kong's flanks, exposing the systems underneath it and setting off red warning lights across Stephen's systems board.

The Gojulas roared in victory as it lunged forward, its massive jaws open to strike the killing bow. Instead, it got a mouthful of fist as the Iron Kong surged forewords, smashing its armoured hand into the enemy Zoid's mouth. Several teeth shattered as the powerful blow sent the Gojulas staggering back, wounded and off balance. The Kong struck again, smashing into the Gojulas' side, driving it down. A third blow hammered into it, driving it to a knee.

"Don't you see?" He snapped as another fist smashed into the Zoid's back. "It's over! Give-" A third blow pushed it further down. "-up-" Another one caused it to buckle further. "-already!" A final blow saw the Zoid stagger back, dropping onto its knees. Stephen stared at the enemy Zoid, hoping that the pilot would get the idea.

He didn't.

The Gojulas fell forward, its damaged maw wide open. Stephen drove around again, smashing the left arm into the Zoid's neck. As the Gojulas buckled, he opened fire with the pulse cannon, rhe shots tearing into the enemy machine's systems. The Gojuas let out one final roar that trialled off into a gurgle, before simply slumping forwards and crashing to the ground with a loud crash.

"Dammit." He muttered. "Don't these clowns get the idea?"

oOoOo

Tasch's Redler wheeled around, diving towards the battlefield. Things looked different to how she'd last seen them; there were a number of wrecked Zoids strewn around the landscape, disabled in various different ways. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be members of the team, so it looked like they were doing well so far.

Something else caught her eye, however; a large, red and black feline Zoid standing in the middle of the battlefield, seemingly looming over everything else around it. "An Energy Liger?" She asked herself. "Well where in the heck did she come from?" She recognised it as being the Guylos Empire's version of the Zoid, one that she had seen in past back on Nyx. They were very rare outside of the Guylos and Zenebas armies, which made this one even more unusual.

On the other hand, it looked like the Energy Liger had just torn apart one of the NUBG Zoids, which meant that it was presumably on their side. Or, at least, on their side for the moment. She wondered if it was just here to beat up everybody, and had merely started with the NUBG Zoids as a point of convenience.

"Now yer being silly." She said to herself. "An' you've got stuff to do." The Redler swooped down, making a pass across the arena before looping around. Looking over the remaining Zoids, she quickly figured the single biggest threat on the battlefield, and decided to take it out first.

The Redler screeched as it rolled over, then dived towards the Dimetrodon. She opened fire with the pulse cannons, stripping armour off the Zoid's thick flanks. The shots had no immediate effect, but Tasch kept the trigger down, pulling the cannons upwards as she levelled off and twisted the boosters. Several more shots tore into the Dimetrodon's sail, shredding the sensitive electronics contained within it. Blue electricity cracked over its surface as the fins shattered and blasted apart.

"That's the trick!" She called out as she flared the boosters, coming around in a tight turn then suddenly shifting the Redler into its VTOL mode. Opening fire again, she continued her attack on the sail, blasting more of it apart. The more damage she did, she figured, the less effect the Dimetrodon's jamming could have on their communications and other systems.

The Dimetrodon and its pilot were clearly unhappy with this idea, the Zoid snarling at her before opening fire with its smaller weapons., tyring to bring her down. She twisted the boosters, the Redler slipping to one side as it continued to fire, blasting into the Zoid's back. Several more chunks of fin went flying, the Zoid staggering under the hits.

"Hey guys!" She called out over the communicator. "Can y'all hear me?"

"Tasch, is that you?" Neil called out.

"Yeah, I think it is." She paused. "Ayup, its me. So I guess then our comms is working."

"What'd you do?" He asked.

"I knocked out the Dimetro's sail." She continued. "Which means that its pretty much outa action. It's still got all its weapons and stuff, but it ain't able to jam us. So its still a danger, but less so." As if to undercut her words, the Dimetrodon suddenly broke into a run, trying to sprint away from her Reder. Several shots tore into its damaged sides, followed by the Energy Liger literally crashing down onto its battered back. "Ah, never mind."

"What's that, Tasch?" Neil asked.

"Um, it's all good. Need any help there?"

oOoOo

"Oh, just a bit." Neil replied as another volley of shots tore past his Zoid. The Gunsniper skipped out of the way of the Snipe Master's line of fire, sprinting away form the smaller Zoid. Despite loosing one of its boosters and taking a bit of a battering, the enemy Zoid was still after him, clearly with every intention of bringing him down.

Glancing over his shoulders, he could see that the Shadow Fox was also coming after him, managing a rather bad shuffling limp after all the damage it had taken. He felt satisfied that, at the very least, he was able to claim that he'd badly wounded a Zoid far more capable then his own. The enemy pilot's aim didn't seem to have improved any, which was another bonus. In fact, if anything, it seemed to have gotten worse, given that he now had to compensate for a bad leg.

He glanced down at his scope, seeing that it was now back online. Unfortunately, all it told him was that the rest of the team were still tied up with other NUBG Zoids, and that there wasn't anybody who could conveniently bail him pout. So it was just him alone against Tweedledum and Tweedledee here.

The Gunsniper continued to run, pulling around towards the Snipe Master. In its current state, both he and it were faster then the Shadow Fox, something that he was hoping to exploit to his advantage. Pulling past the Snipe Master, he turned to fire on it with his wrist gun. The smaller Zoid ducked out of the way, the shots going past it. Hissing, the Snipe Master pulled around, twisting its remaining gun towards him before firing. A shot spanged off the Gunsniper's arm, the others going wide for now.

It was a calculated risk, but one that was paying off. Neil twisted the controls again, running back at the Snipe Master and still firing. In doing such, he was keeping it between him and the Shadow Fox - and as hopeless as these guys were, he figured that the Fox wasn't about to risk shooting his teammate in the back in order to get at him. The plan seemed to be paying off; the Fox's turret was swinging back and forth, but didn't seem to be doing much else so far.

_Cool beans, _Neil smiled to himself. _So they're not that stupid, at least. Now to see what I can do with it._

He charged forwards, firing at the Snipe Master again. This time he got a little luckier, managing to get hits on the Zoid's side and back before the Sniper fired its booster, managing to leap put of the way in a very awkward, clumsy looking way which suggested that the pilot was not entirely in control of the Zoid. Leaving it for the moment, Neil continued to charge forwards at the Shadow Fox, the Gunsniper's boosters flaring and pushing it forwards as quickly as possible.

Caught off-guard, the Fox's pilot didn't fre the Vulcan until the last possible moment. Golden shots belched out from the cannon, scattering around Neil's Zoid without actually striking it. Feeling confident for once, Neil opened fire with the twin Vulcans on the fox, further carving into its damaged flank. There was a loud yelp as the fox stumbled, but it managed to remain standing.

"I can't believe I'm gonna do this." Neil commented to himself as the Gunsniper leaped, sailing through the air towards the Fox. The enemy pilot pulled up with the Beam Vulcan, but still wasn't able to track the swift, smaller Zoid. One of the Gunsiper's hooked toe-claws came down, scything through the Fox's damaged hip and ripping it apart in a shower of components. The Fox shuddered and then collapsed as its leg ripped free form its body, the Zoid clearly down and out of action.

Before Neil could celebrate the victory, several shots struck his Zoid in its side. The Gunsniper staggered forewords, then stumbled, one of its legs badly damaged in the attack. Glancing around, he could see the Snipe Master, its pilot having apparently regained control of the Zoid and being back in action. "Ah, poop bum fart." he began. "Can't a guy get a break around here?"

As if to answer his question, a pair of beams struck down, hammering the Snipe Master from above. The blasts tore into its remaining booster, blasting into the body of the cannon and clearly rendering it useless. Damaged and shocked by the sudden assault, the Snipe Master broke into a run, scurrying away from the attack.

"Hey, thanks again, Tasch!" Neil called out as her black Redler passed overhead, pulling up from its attack on the Snipe Master.

"Ah, it's okay..." she began, but trailed off into a mess of static.

"Tasch?" He began, then glanced at his scope. The screen was a mess of extra icons and static crackles; a clear sign of enemy Jamming. "Ah hell, not again!" He took off after the Snipe Master, chasing after the fleeing Zoid. Ahead of him, he could see one of the arena doors opening. The Snipe Master was sprinting towards it, but whether he was going or something else was coming was another matter.

Neil wasn't worried about that right now. He had an opportunity and was damned if he was going to let it pass. He opened fire again, both wrist gattlings and the chest cannon spitting shots at the fleeing NUBG Zoid. Shots tore into its back, the Zoid stumbling then crashing to the ground flat on its face. Confident that it was out of action, he leaped over it and headed towards the arena door.

Then he saw the two Zoids entering, immediately recognising them. "Oh, crap." He muttered. "Heym anyone who can hear me? We're in a world of trouble."

oOoOo

Rose hadn't really cared where she was running too. All that had initially mattered was where she was running from; in this case, the Energy Liger that had dropped out of the sky. When it had come barrelling towards her Zoid, she'd only cared about one thing; getting as far away from it as possible. It wasn't until after it had crushed the Murasame Liger, literally tearing the Zoid apart, that she'd even thought about what she was doing.

Unfortunately, in her panic, she'd nearly run straight into the NUBG Gravity Saurer. On the upside, he'd been just as confused as she had, the pair of them not recovering initially. Then, just as abruptly, she'd been greeted with a hail of fire from the Zoid's cannons. The Liger weathered several shots before she had managed to break away, her Zoid sprinting across the arena floor.

The Gravity Saurer had let out a bizarre warbling noise before it also took off, chasing after her Zoid, its gravity wheel glowing a bright blue. Its advanced drive had allowed it to eat up the distance between the pair of them, the Zoid closing in before it opened fire with its massive weapons array again.

A pair of blasts tore into the Zero's flank, carving up the armour over the hip, causing the Zoid to momentarily stagger. Fighting with the controls, Rose had managed to bring the Zoid under control and then come around, charging back at her opponent from one of the flanks. While the Gravity Saurer was fast, its ungainly construction made it rather clumsy and slow to react to threats, something she was hoping to take advantage of. That all its weapons were fixed facing forwards helped matters considerably.

She opened fire with the impact cannon, several of the shots striking the Gravity Saurer's flank and leg. The shots splashed against its thick armour, shaking the Zoid but not having much effect. The Saurer spun around on a single leg, charging towards her and fining its cannons. Rose's Liger took a hit on its flank but weaved through the others, closing the distance between her machine and her opponent's.

"Okay, let's finish this." She began. "You've been a pain in my arse for far too long, buddy." The Liger roared as it prepared to strike, its claws glowing a bright golden colour.

The Saurer's pilot had planned for her next move, it seemed. The Saurer's motor whirred, the Zoid suddenly leaping into the air and sailing over the Liger's strike. It landed in a crouch behind Rose, then took off in a high-speed run. Glancing back at him, she opened fire with the tail gun, the shots going wide of his Zoid.

"You shouldn't have run away from us, Rose!" The pilot called over the PA. "All of this is your fault!"

"My fault?" She yelled back as she wheeled the Liger around, coming back a lot faster then the Saurer could. "That's stupid!" She opened up with the Impact Cannon again, the shots narrowly missing the running Gravity Saurer.

"You should have joined us when you had the chance!" He yelled as he wheeled his Zoid around. "Instead of running away!" The Gravity Saurer opened up with its array of cannons, shots peppering the Zero's flank.

Rose glanced at the damage display; her armour was about to fall apart, and then she'd be in real trouble. "If you're going to blame anyone, blame that moron Ariel!" She shouted as she opened fire. This time the cannon struck its target, smashing into the Gravity Saurer's arm. "She was the one who was dumb enough to invite perfect strangers into an NUBG arena! She should have known what would have happened!" Rose continued her assault, more shots blasting into the Saurer's leg. The Zoid seemed to stumble, but remained upright.

"She opened my eyes to the truth of the situation!" He yelled out as he opened fire again. "You're the fool for not seeing it!" A volley of shots hit the Zero, causing it to again stumble. "All this, you're responsible for it!" Another blast knocked the Zero over, the Zoid crashing to the ground.

Rose was shaken around the cockpit, the safety harness barely keeping her in place and saving her from harm. Even then, she was still stunned, spots floating before her eyes. "You see, Rose, we're not the criminals." He began as the Gravity Saurer limped foreyards, its leg clearly damaged by her attack. "We're the only ones who really know what's going on. The ZBC are the criminals, holding back warriors and not allowing them to develop to their fullest." The Saurer warbled as it flexed its long claws. "You've made a big mistake, Rose. It's too late to go back now"

"I wouldn't want to." She replied with a grin. The Zero suddenly leaped to its feet, charging at the Gravity Saurer. Caught off guard, its pilot wasn't ready for the volley of shots that tore into its torso and leg. "If today's any indication, I wouldn't want to ever be a member of NUBG. You guys show all that I've expected from them; you're cowards and bullies who need to hobble their opponents in order to win!" the Saurer stumbled, its leg badly damaged in the assault.

"You're not heroes or rebels; you're criminals, pure and simple." She added, the Zoid charging forwards. The Gravity Saurer tried to move, but its leg was clearly badly damaged. The Zero leaped on it, its Strike Laser Claw carving a brilliant arc through the air before striking into the Saurer's flank. The claw scythed through its weapons, tearing several of them free from its hull before cutting into the already damaged hip and tearing it apart. The Gravity Saurer wailed and gurgled as it collapsed to the ground, its right side little more then a smoking wreck.

"Well that wasn't too bad." She began. "And that should have -"

A bolt of artificial lightning struck the Zero's side, tearing through its already damaged armour and again knocking the Zoid over. Glancing behind her, Rose could see another pair of Zoids entering the arena, a Liger Zero X and a Dark Spiner. Her eyes went wide as she recognised them as the same Zoids that had attacked her and Neil all those months ago, the same ones that had started this whole mess.

"You guys think you're so tough." The enemy Liger's pilot began. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

oOoOo

The Dark Spiner opened up with its twin autocannons, the shots streaming towards Stephen's battered Iron Kong. Rounds slammed into the Zoid's chest, ripping through the remaining armour and pummelling the systems inside. The Zoid bellowed in pain, while across the systems status boar numerous red lights flashed on.

"Give it up." Its pilot called out. "You've lost. Surrender now and spare yourselves the agony." there was a pause for a moment. "But if you want to keep fighting, that's fine. It just means that we can lay on the beatdown."

Glancing over the board, Stephen could see that this was not good. The battle thus far had left his machine badly damaged, and these two machines probably had more then enough firepower to finish him off. And, since they were both fresh, that made things even harder for the team. Beating these two would be an uphill battle, unless...

"Hey you!" He called out to the Energy Liger. "Are you going to do something, or are you only here for a few cheap hits?"

The Liger's pilot didn't reply, instead just standing and staring at the two newcomers.

"Fine then." Stephen finished. "Okay, everyone. This has to be the end of it. Go in there and wail them with everything you've got left!" He shouted out over the PA system, since his communicator was still useless. He didn't care that the enemy pilots would know what they were doing; he figured that it was obvious anyway.

But he wasn't going to give up.

He turned towards the Dark Spiner, opening fire on it with the Hyperbeam cannon. The shot narrowly missed the Zoid, instead blasting into the wall behind it. Both it and the Zero X reacted, however, both breaking into runs and splitting up. The X folded out its two blades, electricity cracking over them. The Spiner's fin wavered as it ran, the source of the current jamming that was messing with their sensors and communications.

The Spiner again opened fire on him, Stephen firing the boosters to twist out of their line of fire at the last possible moment. As the shots blasted into the sand, sending up small dust cloud as he fired back with the pulse cannon. The Spnier's pilot seemed ready, however, twisting past them with a degree of agility that seemed to belie the Zoid's size and bulk. Undeterred, Stephen fired again; this time he clipped the Zoid's tail, but didn't seem to do much damage.

The Zero X's two blades discharged, bolts flying at both Rose and Neil's Zoids. Both bolts missed their targets, but only by the narrowest of margins as the two pilots managed to twist out of the way. Undeterred, both Rose and Neil charged forwards, opening fire with their weapons on the newcomer's Zoid. The Zero X's pilot proved to be up to the task, his machine managing to leap and twist its way through their fire, coming out seemingly unscathed.

Rose charged towards it, her Zoid's impact cannon still firing as it prepared for a charge. The Zero X weaved through the shots, then replied with its own cannon. Several blasts struck Rose's machine, one tearing off the armour from the right shoulder. Undeterred, she continued to charge, the claws building up energy. The Liger lashed out, its claws swiping through the air at its counterpart. However, the X was ready, and bought up its own leg, bashing into the side of the Zero's and knocking it back. Then, before she could recover, the X swiped downwards with its own claws, scything through the side of the Zero's head.

"Rose!" Neil called out as her Zoid stumbled, the side of its face a mess of twisted metal and circuitry. "Right, that's it. You're for it now!" he yelled out as the Sniper charged forwards, its three cannons blazing away. The Zero X leaped away, spinning around and bringing up its Anchor Blades like a club. It slacked into the Gunsniper, knocking its legs out form underneath it. The small Zoid went down, crumpling to the arena floor.

The X turned around, ready to finish off its two damaged opponents. Instead, it was greeted by a hail of laser fire that peppered into its back and hip. Glancing up, Stephen could see Tasch's Redler diving on it, the two beam cannons blazing away. The X took several more hits before it broke into a run, sprinting away from her and trying to weave in between its shots.

Seeing a chance, Stephen thundered forewords, opening fire again on the Dark Spiner. The Zoid hopped out of his way, but didn't return his fire. Instead, it twisted around and raised the autocannons, opening up on the Redler as it passed overhead. Shells tore through the sky as casings bounced out of the cannon, clattering across the ground. Bursts filled their air around the Redler, ten one struck home, slamming into its body. A plume of black smoke bellowed out from the Zoid as it suddenly pulled away, trying to escape form the Spiner's murderous fire.

As Tasch tried to escape, Stephen saw an opportunity. The Kong charged in, smashing into the Dark Spiner's side. The force of the blow knocked the smaller Zoid off balance, causing it to stagger back. Before it could recover, he lashed out again, one fist driving into the Spiner's side, further pushing it back. He swung back, ready for another one.

He never got a chance. Twin blasts of energy struck the Iron Kong from behind, blasting into its rear armour. The Zoid bellowed out in pain, recoiling form the shock of the hit. Seeing a chance, the Spiner sprinted away then span around opening fire on the Kong again with its twin cannons. Several shots blasted into the Kong's chest and shoulders before Stephen was able to fire the boosters, managing to just barely get out of the Spiner's line of fire.

No sooner was he down then another energy bolt narrowly missed him. Glancing around, he could see the Zero X behind him, charging forewords to finish him with the Strike Laser Claw. Using the manoeuvre thrusters, he spun around, the Kong lashing out at the Zero with one of its arms. The Zoid leaped past him, skidding around and joining its companion.

"Face it, we've got you beat." The X's pilot began. "And now, we're gonna enjoy finishing you all off."

The Spiner bellowed, then tilted forwards, as if it was bowing to its opponents. Its tail went rigid, sticking straight up, while its fin array flipped forwards. White energy cracked over its surface as it built up power. "You know, those Zoids of yours will make for nice trophies... or what's left of them"

Stephen opened fire with the Hyperbeam cannon, the shot tearing straight towards the Dark Spiner. Instead of striking it, however, it reflected around it, carving into the arena wall. Undeterred, he opened up with the Pulse Cannon, the shots again deflecting away from the Zoid.

"It's the ionisation array." The Spiner pilot continued. "You can't shoot it, you can't touch it. Now hurry up and- hell!"

The Spiner's fin disintegrated into a shower of components as the Energy Liger leaped past it, its wings glowing a brilliant orange as they cleaved through the fragile array. The Zoid landed on the other side of the Spiner, growling angrily at it as components rained to the ground around it.

"Wow." Neil commented over the communicator, now free of static.

"How is everyone?" Stephen began.

"Reticular, but I'll live." Neil replied.

"I'm here. Barely." Rose added. "But I'm not out yet."

"My Redler ain't too hot." Tasch continued. "Though it ain't dead yet."

"Good." Stephen finished. "Because I think that the odds have begun to swing in our favour."

oOoOo

"This... this was not meant to happen." Michael muttered as he watched the arena. The sands looked to be a sea of destroyed and disabled Zoids, sone ten in all. And all of them were from the NUBG force.

"The situation would appear to be untenable." Cole began. "Maybe I should begin the withdrawal."

"Agreed." Rachel nodded. "I will try to salvage what I can."

"Good luck then."

She stood, then walked out the door. As soon as she was out the door, she broke into a run, sprinting down the stairs to the main Zoid hanger. Pausing before she entered, she pulled off her neat blouse and slacks, revelling a form-fitting brown, gold and red pilot suit underneath it.

Rachel stepped into the hanger, heading straight towards the last Zoid remaining in there. Keying in its security code, she stood back as its top opened up, revelling the cockpit inside. She climbed in and skipped through the checklist, simply powering the Zoid on. As soon as it was ready, she opened up the throttle, the Zoid sprinting out of the bay towards the arena.

_This is it. The NUBG has outlived its usefulness, but I can still get something from it._

oOoOo

A brown-haired female security guard watched Rachel board her Zoid, and then head out to the arena. Smiling to herself, she picked up her cellphone and keyed in a number. _Looks like we're in the endgame here, _she thought. _Time to call it a day. However, I know that there will be people who will be interested in this battle._

She turned and walked off, leaving the bay behind her.

oOoOo

The Dark Spiner shook as several shots battered its flank and back, gouging into the formerly pristine armour. The pilot opened up the throttle, the machine sprinting away form its attacker and tyring to remain mobile to make it a harder target. He was no longer concerned with beating the ZBC Pilots; now he was more concerned with staying alive.

The Black Redler fired again, this time the shots went over it and carved into the ground in front of the Zoid. Glancing around, Shane swerved the controls heading off in a different direction away form the Redler's flight path. Sweat poring down his forehead, he looked around for other options. If he could maybe thin out their numbers a bit, then he had a chance. But how-

"Shane! Stay where you are, I'll meet you!" A female voice called over the communicator. For a second, he wondered who it was, then recognised her. Rachel, the boss's personal assistant, and formerly the last member of the NUBG's elite. He immediately realised what was going on, and grinned to himself. It meant that things were going to change for the better.

"Right. I'm ready." He replied as he hit several buttons on his console. The Spiner jettisoned the remnants of the jamming array, which was now too badly damaged to retract and well beyond being usable. "Julian, cover me!"

"Say what?" Julian called back. "Are you mad? I've got my hands full as it is!"

"Rach is coming." He replied with a grin.

"Heh." Julian snorted. "Well that makes all the difference... just like the good ol' days, right?"

"Damn right." He finished as the Spiner sprinted towards the Arena door.

The Iron Kong thundered towards the Dark Spiner, clearly intent on cutting him off. Shane didn't know whether the Kong's pilot was aware of what he was up to or not; nor did he care. He knew that he needed to get past it. He thumbed the trigger, the two autocannons spitting shells at the Kong. The enemy Zoid twisted out of the way, its pilot preparing to fire back. However, a pair of busts of fire slammed into the larger Zoid's back from the door, further throwing it off.

"Ready!" Rachel called out as her Zoid charged out. "Activating Killer Spiner system!" Special boosters built into the underside of her Killer Dome activated, launching the Zoid into the air. Its legs retracted into its body before it connected into the Dark Spiner's body in place of the now-destroyed jamming array. The Killer Dome's claws sprung open, revealing the twin gattling canons concealed within them.

"I have weapons control." Rachel began. "You concentrate on keeping us on the move and keeping us alive."

"Roger that." He began. "Moving out."

The Killer Spiner broke into a run and opened fire with all four of its cannons, spraying shots at the Iron Kong. The Zoid leaped out of the way, but not before taking numerous hits across its arms from the cannons. The shots tore into the Zoid's thick armour, shredding the plating and eroding what little protection it had left. The Fuzor swung around, tracking the Kong with its powerful weapons, but holding its fire until it had a better shot.

Several blasts hit the side of the Zoid's dome, the Black Redler pulling away after an attack run. Keeping her eyes on the iron Kong. Rachel opened fire with the dome-mounted laser array, sending a volley of shots searing through the air towards the Redler. Several shots missed the Zoid, but one or two scored into its armour. Watching the Iron Kong scamper away, Rachel tuned the weapons back on the larger opponent, sending more rounds towards it

"Julian, stop standing there like a lump." She began over the communicator. "The Energy Liger and Liger Zero are still a threat to us. Take them out. I'll provide fire support."

"Sure thing." He sneered back, his usual bragging tone returning. The Zero X sprinted across the arena, headed over to the enemy Zoids. Confident that he could handle matters, she turned back to the Iron Kong.

Many pilots overestimated the Dark Spiner, seeing it as a heavy combat Zoid like the Genosaurer. The truth was that it was an electronic warfare unit, albeit a very powerful one. And while potent in a team, it was no match for a similarly sized Zoid in a one on one battle. Unless, of course, it had a Killer Dome attached to it. Doing such transformed it from a powerful support unit to a veritable walking arsenal.

And with the weapons she had at her disposal, Rachel was determined to end this now. Leaving the Kong for the moment, she turned her attention to the Energy Liger, the Zoid which had given them so much strife in past. _While I'm here, I may as well clear up some loose ends, make things a little more tidy._

oOoOo

Rose weaved past another electrical blast, narrowly avoiding the Zero X's assault. Coming around, she fired the tail gun at massively off-bore, hoping for an odds-against hit. It was to no avail, however, the shot going well wide of the enemy Zoid. Keeping the boosters away, she sprinted off as the Zero X took off after her.

"Damn him..." She muttered as she fired another few shots form the tail gun at the enemy Zoid. The NUBG pilot was proving to be very persistent and, as another beam went past his Zoid, very good at evading her fire. It didn't help that his Zoid was more heavily armed then hers and a lot faster, as well as being far less damaged. And with the Killer Spiner on the loose and tearing up the landscape, it meant that everyone else had their hands full.

"Hey Tasch!" She called out. "Can I get some air support here?"

"I wish I could!" Her team-mate called back. "But... heck, my systems are busted. I can barely keep my Zoid airborne here."

"It's cool Tasch." Rose acknowledged. "If you're out, then don't risk it. I know it's a lot tougher for you flyer pilots."

"Sorry 'bout that." Tasch admitted.

"Don't apologise." Rose shook her head. "I'm sorry that I got us all into this situation. I'm just glad that you all came for me."

"Yeah... we weren't about to leave y'all behind." Tasch finished. "Now I gotta try something here... Gimme a bit."

"Sure." Rose nodded, then closed the link. Glancing back, she could see the Zero X closing in on her, ready to finish her off. _Okay, gotta try something a might unusual here, _she thought. _Here goes nothing... _She folded out the stabilisers, at the same time killing the Zero's throttle and bringing the stick around. The Zoid skidded to a halt, spinning in a relatively short amount of space.

The Zero X shot past her Zoid, its pilot not ready for her sudden move. As he tried to come around, she charged forewords, her battered Liger launching itself at the enemy machine. The Strike Laser Claws struck out, slicing through one of the X's legs, shattering the energy discharger over the hip before the Zero leaped away. _Not bad, _Rose thought. _Coulda been better, but I ain't about to get choosy. _She stabbed out with the tail gun, sending a few more shots at the enemy Zoid to throw it off.

Snarling, the Zero X turned to face her, only to be hammered in the side by several more shots. Turning, the Zoid faced Neil's battered Gunsniper, which was limping towards it. The X chose to ignore Rose for a moment, instead turning towards the Gunsniper and unleashing a volley of fire form its impact cannon. The shots struck the Sniper, smashing into its side and knocking the Zoid onto its back.

"Neil!" She called out, charging towards the Zero X, trying to catch it off guard. She didn't know what had happened to Neil, but she was determined to take a chunk out of the enemy Zoid for him. She felt a mixture of anger and fear, hating at the NUBG for what they had done, and anger at herself for causing all this in the first place.

Unfortunately, the Zero X seemed to be ready for her, as if he'd known what she would do. The Zoid turned towards her and opened fire with its two electron dischargers, blasting her Zoid with bolts of artificial lightning. The Zero crumpled under the assault, stumbling and then collapsing on its side.

"This is too easy." The X's pilot began. "You guys are so damned predictable. Looks like I'll be getting myself a huge smackload of bounty money when this is all done." The X turned towards Rose's machine, then broke into a run. Its claws began to glow with energy, the Zoid coming in to finish her off. It ran at her, leaping to strike.

It never made it.

Several shots struck the X in its side, before a black and green blur bounced across the ground in front of it, ducking under the enemy Zoid. There was a shower of sparks as something sliced into one of the Zoid's unprotected legs - the X's only weakness. Struck by the force of the blow, the X was knocked out of the air, and came to the ground, skidding on its forelegs. There was a squeal of tortured metal as the limb, damaged by the strike, twisted at a very unpleasant angle.

Glancing around, Rose saw something that she hadn't seen in ages. Tasch's black and green Redler, charging across the arena to the Killer Spiner, running in its bizarre hopping gait. _Huh... she said she couldn't fly any more... but she can sure run._

The Zero made it to its feet, shaking is head. Inside the cockpit, Rose grinned to herself. "Looks like you've got a bung leg there," she began. "And I've got four that still work. I think I'm beginning to like these odds."

oOoOo

The Energy Liger charged towards the Killer Spiner, only to be greeted with a hail of fire from the quartet of autocannons. The Zoid took several its to its body, gouging into its otherwise pristine armour and leaving deep scars. Roaring, it leaped into the air, opening fire with its gattling cannon. The Spiner took a number of hits to its flank, but remained standing, as if unimpressed by the attack.

The Liger dived at the Fuzor, its claws outstretched to carve into the Zoid from above. Again the enemy pilot was ready, however, and swing out with one of the Killer Dome's massive claws. The crab claw struck the liger in the side, battering it off course and away form the Zoid. The Liger crashed to the arena floor, only barely recovering and skidding to a halt.

_So he's not invincible, _Stephen thought. _But that's probably not a good thing. _Seeking to take advantage of the situation, he charged forwards, opening fire with the Hyperbeam cannon. The Spiner seemed to anticipate this, however, twisting out of the way of his shot. It swung around the other claw, opening fire with it and the dome's lasers on him.

"Damn you!" He yelled out. Whoever was behind the wheel of that Zoid, they were good. More to the point, whichever one of the two pilots was coordinating their fire and leading on the cannons was proving to be an excellent shot and a skilled commander. They had managed to keep their Zoid in the battle against superior odds for a lot longer then they had expected, something that he had to give them credit for... or rather, he would if they weren't trying to kill him.

It didn't help that the Energy Liger pilot was refusing to communicate with him, which meant that they couldn't coordinate to take out the Zoid. He'd tried shouting at them across the PA and frequency hopping till he found them, neither producing any results.

He fired the boosters, ignoring the warning lights that the system was giving about over-use, leaping out of the Fuzor's line of fire for a moment. Landing behind it, he opened fire with the pulse cannon. This time, he managed to actually score a hit, opening up rents in the Zoid's back and flank before the Zoid twisted out of the way. It replied with another pair of blasts from its beam cannons, narrowly missing Stephen's Zoid.

"Guys, anyone got any ideas for dealing with a damned Fuzor?" He asked.

"Hang on," Tasch called back. "Yeah, I got somehtin'"

Her black Redler leaped past his Zoid, running towards the Killer Spiner. The Redler opened up with its beam cannons, shots peppering the Fuzor's flank and leg. Stepping back for a moment, it twisted one of the claws to follow the Redler, opening fire with the gattling cannon. However, with its odd hopping gait, the Redler proved to be a difficult target, shots flying through the space it had occupied just a moment earlier.

Tasch fired her boosters, leaping up towards the Dark Spiner. The Redler swiped at it with its claws, carving armour from the Zoid's side before landing on the dome, then taking off again. The Killer Spiner fired off from its dome, shooting into the air after the Redler. Instead, Tasch spun the boosters downwards, landing in a crouch under the Zoid before taking off again in its bizarre run. It bounded around heading back to the larger Zoid.

"Perfect!" Stephen called out, watching the chase. It was like some sort of strange dance, one where Tasch was happily bounding around her partner. If not for the amount of ordinance the Fuzor was throwing at her, it would have looked like she was having fun with it.

However, it was also the break he was looking for. "Tasch, get out of there now!" He called out.

"Sure thing!" She yelled, the Redler firing its boosters and hopping away from the Zoid.

The Spiner turned to face her, then abruptly wheeled back to the Iron Kong as Stephen fired the Hyperbeam cannon. The Zoid twisted out of its path, but was too late to avoid the strike. The beam tore through its flank, ripping one of its arms from its mounting, while also shredding one of the Killer Dome's massive claws and furrowing through the hip. The Killer Spiner staggered back, belching black smoke from its massive wound.

"Now you're mine."

oOoOo

Shane was shaken around the cockpit as the Killer Spiner was gutted by the shot. The Zoid staggered backwards as red lights came on across its entire status board, system after system going offline. "Rachel!" He called out. "We're losing it here! Give me your reserve power so I can-"

There was a loud clanging noise as the Killer Dome disengaged its connection to the Dark Spiner. Before he could say anything, the Dome's boosters fired, the Crab Zoid leaping off its larger partner's back. The small Zoid landed on the ground, then scurried towards the Zoid bay, disappearing inside the darkened passageway.

"No way!" He called out. "Rach, come back here! I need help! I need-" He was cut off as more shots rocked the Zoid, the Energy Liger charging forwards, tearing into the Zoid's body with its two cannons. He tried to come around, only to have the Spiner stumble as its damaged leg gave way. The Energy Liger leaped past him, one of its wing blades gouging into its sides, tearing into its undamaged leg.

"Damn... come on... come on!" The Spiner stumbled as he tried to open fire on the Liger, the shots instead going wide and blasting into the Arena floor. As he tried to bring it up, the Zoid was rocked by another blast from the Kong's Hyperbeam cannon, this time drilling into its chest. The Zoid staggered back, only barely remaining upright. Black smoke billowed from the huge hole punched in its chest, covering his vision. Warning sirens rang out across the cockpit as system after system failed.

"Julian!" He called out. "I need help here!"

"Forget it, man!" Julian called back, his usual confident tone replaced with panic. "I've got my hands full- aaaagh!"

Shane turned to look at his Zoid, just in time to see the Liger Zero leap on it with its strike laser claws glowing. The white Liger carved into the Zoid's neck, sending chunks of debris and structure flying while all but decapitating the Zoid. "No!" He called out. "Damn-"

The entire Zoid shook as a massive blow rocked it, Shane again being thrown around in the cockpit. Through the failing sensors and the billowing smoke, he could still see what was going on; the Iron Kong was laying into his Zoid with its massive fists, pummelling into it. There was a loud crack as the Kong struck again, the Dark Spiner's lower jaw dislocating and then tearing free from its mounting. The Zoid staggered, then simply collapsed on its side.

oOoOo

"Hardcore." Neil began as his battered Gunsniper propped itself up. "I think he got the idea."

"Yeah..." Stephen replied, breathing heavily as if exhausted. "I guess he did."

"Remind me never to annoy you." Neil added.

Rose nodded to herself in agreement, then looked around the battlefield. Stephen, Tasch and Neil's Zoids were all badly battered, their bodies seemingly more torn armour and battered systems then whole ones. And while she couldn't see her own Zoid, she imagined that it looked about the same. Only one of the machines that was still standing was only lightly damaged, the Energy Liger.

"Hey!" She began, looking over at the black and red Zoid. "Thanks for-"

The Liger turned its back on her, then ran towards the edge of the arena. It leaped onto the edge of the stadium, then leaped off, vanishing over its side.

"That was nice of them." Neil commented.

"Well, you know with these mysterious biting cats." Tasch began. "I mean, it ain't like it stopped to say thanks to y'all earlier."

"What?" Rose asked.

"Well, it blasted the Zero X an' the Spiner when they chased y'all." She began. "An' it got the Matrix Dragon during that last fight we had."

"...you knew it was an Energy Liger all along?" Neil asked.

"Yeah."

"And why didn't you say anything?" Stephen began.

"Well... I didn't think it was important." She admitted. "'cause they weren't part of the team, and they didn't hang around... so I figured that they didn't want us to know about 'em."

Rose shook her head. "Amazing." She glanced over at the field of wrecked NUBG Zoids. Several of the pilots had begun to crawl out of the battered hulks, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we need to-" Stephen began, but was cut off by the sound of jets passing overhead. Looking up, Rose could see a trio of blue and silver Raynos passing overhead. She recongised them as being a special model, one used by the PKB.

"I dunno." She finished. "I think that things are pretty much under control here."

oOoOo

Heywood looked down at the arena, his hands pressed against the window. "They..." He began, seemingly unable to comprehend what was going on. "They destroyed them all. They beat them. We... we lost." He couldn't believe that it had happened. To his mind, it was impossible; there was no way that a bunch of lowly losers from the ZBC could have so resoundingly defeated his team. That they had destroyed fourteen Zoids was one thing; that two of them were his best pilots was another matter entirety.

The roar of the jet engines snapped him out of it. "Raynos... ah hell!" He blinked as he saw them for what they were, the PKB. If those Zoids were here, then it meant that there were more on the way. If he stayed, then he would be trapped here. Being caught was the on thing - or as he liked to think, the only thing - that he was afraid of. He wasn't about to let it happen to him.

"Cole, we need to get-" He began as he turned around, but stopped abruptly as he saw the empty chair. Cole was gone. His right hand man, his one-time best pilot, the man he trusted the most and his former champion had deserted him in his hour of need. For a moment, he stood there, staring at the empty seat, as if willing its former occupant to come back.

He shook his head, trying to figure it out .He could see that things had turned bad, but, at the same time, they were still salvageable. He could still tun it all around. He could still survive. He would escape and rebuild NUBG. He could make it a better organisation then it was before, one that would not fall as easily.

But first he had to escape.

He dashed out the door, looking for the two guards he had assigned to protect it - except that they weren't there. Shaking his head, he belted down the stairs, heading into the field centre that he had set up to oversee the recording of the battle. _I can get these recordings, and I can escape with them... and the info on them will be enough for me to go from. It's not over yet, not by a long way._

He ran into the control centre, only to find that it was abandoned. Chairs were upturned, papers were scattered and computers were still running. It looked like it had been abandoned in a rush, and probably only recently. _Those cowards! _He thought. _How dare they try to run away... they should have been doing their job! _Sweating as he worked, he quickly downloaded the contents of one of the computers onto a disk. Then, stashing it in his pocket, he ran out of the room, heading for the stars down to the car park.

When they'd taken over the arena, they'd found that the main lifts were out of action, not to mention somewhat unsafe. It meant that there was a long, long climb from the park up to his VIP booth. At the time, it was worth it simply for the view of the battlefield. Now he was cursing under his breath as he half ran, half stumbled down flight after flight.

After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the carpark level that his staff had been using. Stopping at the base of the stars, he staggered, back, wheezing for breath as he clutched his chest. He felt like he was about to die, or maybe even explode. Gasping, he looked around the car park, only to see that it was all but deserted. The only vehicle left in it was his own limo.

Staggering across the car park, he reached the vehicle, slumping against its side. After what seemed like an eternity of fumbling with the keys, he managed to actually find the one he wanted and open it up. He crawled into the driving seat, then slammed the dor shut, wheezing and gasping for breath. _Okay, time to go. I'm not waiting here. _He stuck the key in the ignition, and turned, it. Nothing happened. He tried it again, but there was no response. The car simply refused to start.

"Ah, come on!" He began, slamming his fist into the steering wheel. "What is this crap? Start already!" He tried the key again and again, but each time it failed to respond.

And then the Car Park's door opened, slowly rolling up. He watched in horror as a pair of forms stepped inside. blue lights flashing across their back. He realised immediately what they were, a PKB Gorheks and an Arosaurer. Heywood slowly slunk below the dashboard, hoping that they wouldn't see him or, maybe, they'd think that it was an empty car or-

"You in the car!" A voice called out over a PA system. "Come on out with your hands up!"

oOoOo

The arena doors buckled, then crashed inwards. Moments later, the huge form of a Gojulas Giga barged in, the Zoid's loud roar echoing around the empty stands. Behind it, a squad of Gorheks and Arosaurers filed in, levelling their weapons. "Freeze!" The Giga's pilot called out. "Nobody move! Power down your Zoids and step out of them now!"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Neil began, his Gunsniper barley managing a crouch. He popped open the Zoid's cockpit, then climbed out, his hands in the air. Within minutes, the rest of the team did the same. There was no need to keep fighting, no need to argue with the PKB or anything to that effect. They just wanted this all to be over and done with.

"Thanks for that." The Giga's pilot began. "Now, does someone mind explaining what the hell happened here?"

"It's a long story." Rose replied with a smile.


	15. You break it, you bought it

**Pointy Muses Fic **

Chapter Fifteen - You break it, you bought it

By Rick R.

oOoOo

"So tell us, in your own words, what happened miss..." The PKB officer started.

"Stroemer." Tasch replied. "That, like the famous Gilvader pilot guy. But not like him, 'cause I ain't related to him at all, despite the fact that everyone asks me that."

Tasch, like the rest of the team, had been politely asked to go with the PKB to answer some questions about the situation they had been found in. The members of the PKB had been surprised, to say the least, to discover the four of them, surrounded by a good number of destroyed or disabled Zoids, a situation that clearly warranted further investigation. When it became apparent that they had caught a large number of NUBG members, including their apparent leader, things became even more important.

The officer glanced up at her. "Ms Stroemer."

"Ah heck, please call me Tasch."

"Certainly, Tasch." He continued. "So what exactly happened when you learned about Ms O'Bannon's kidnapping?"

"Well, we realised that we had to help her, an' we figured that the best way to help her was to take part in the battle that the NUBG wanted." She began. "The idea was that they'd give her back if we went along with them."

"And you felt you could trust them on this matter?"

"Yeah, I did."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "Even in light of your team's history with the NUBG?" He asked.

"Well yeah." She nodded. "'cause I figured that they'd do it 'cause it didn't make any sense for them not to."

He furrowed his brow. "Can you explain?"

"Well sure." Tasch cheerily replied. "Y'see, they've attacked us each time so they can have a battle with us. An' they want a battle with us so they can sell it to their viewers fer lots of money. So I figured that if they had been as silly as to kidnap Rose, then they'd have to be wantin' to get somehtin' out of it. So then it wouldn't have made any sense fer them to do somehtin' other then put us in the battle that they'd said that they would put us in, 'cause they wouldn't get anything out of doin' anything else with us."

"I see..." He began.

"I mean, heck, we didn't want to go along with it but we did because it was fer Rose's sake." Tasch continued. "'cause we couldn't think of any other way to get her back other then to go along with them."

"Of course." He paused. "And did you contact anyone outside of your team about this battle?"

"Heck no." Tasch continued. "'cause NUBG had told us not too, an' it seemed like the best way to handle things."

"Of course." He nodded. "So how about that Energy Liger then? Did you contact the pilot?"

"Well, we ain't got no idea who she is, so we weren't gonna contact her." Tasch continued. "But I kinda knew that she was gonna turn up, which is one of the reasons that I was happy to go along with things."

"You knew about it?"

"Oh yeah." Tasch nodded. "Y'see, that Liger, she's been involved in two of our four previous battles with the NUBG. Well, one of them weren't a battle, but that first time that the NUBG attacked us. She attacked them there, then ran off. An' she also attacked someone else after one of our battles, but weren't directly involved in it."

"And you knew this all along?"

"Well, I had to kinda piece it together, and that weren't easy." She continued. "But I figured it out after a bit."

"And you didn't tell anyone else?"

"Well, I figured that she wanted her privacy, given the way she runs off each time." Tasch finished. "So yeah."

"I see." He finished. "You keep referring to the pilot as being female. Do oyu know who it is?"

"Nope."

"So why do you keep doing such?" He asked.

"Well, I figure that it could be a guy or a girl." She explained. "So I said it was a her."

oOoOo

"Mister Chesterton." The officer began. "Can I ask why you didn't immediately contact the PKB or some other agency when you learned that Ms O'Bannon had been kidnapped?"

Stephen sat back and scratched the small beard he'd accumulated over the last few days as he considered matters. "I guess it was for a number of reasons." He explained. "Mainly it was out of surprise, however."

"Do go on."

"The NUBG had never tied this sort of thing on us before." He continued. "So far its all been Zoid-on-Zoid violence. They've never gone after us as people, more of after us as a Zoid team. They've never directly attacked us, rather wanting to have one of their inane 'no rules' battles."

"But this time they had directly threatened a member of your team." The officer added.

"Exactly. They had basically snatched her off the street in broad daylight. Now we were surprised by that, to say the least. And, more importantly, we were more then just a bit frightened that they'd decided to take things in this direction." He explained.

"You hadn't expected them to do sorting like this then."

"Not at all." Stephen answered. "It was an escalation of conflict that took things in an entirely new direction. That's why we went along with them, because we were afraid that they were a lot more dangerous or desperate than we'd initially thought, neither of which was a pleasant idea."

"But there's more too it then that, correct?" He offered. "Like why you didn't contact the PKB or anyone else."

"They had our confidential contact information." Stephen growled. "And they had just taken a member of our team and threatened her health if we didn't play along. Frankly, we were scared of what else they might do to us. We were worried that they were watching our every move, and we didn't want to risk making things any worse for Rose then they already were."

"Do you think they would have harmed her?"

"The thing is, I agree with Rose. The NUBG are stupid." Stephen shook his head. "They'd already made one very stupid move in kidnapping her, and I didn't want to run the risk of them making another one. And since they're stupid people with military hardware, I was more then a little apprehensive."

"Understandably such."

"In fact, when they sent a Shadow Fox to greet us, it just proved everything I'd thought." He continued. "They had a Zoid that could have been watching us all along, and could have... I dunno, done anything if we'd made a move they didn't like."

"Of course. Now do you know what other Zoids they used to escort you to the arena?"

"Well, someone was jamming us, so that could be the Spiner or the Dimetrodon, or even a sight-unseen Gator." He offered. "Beyond that, I really can't say."

"And how many people did you see in the arena proper?"

"At least half a dozen guards." Stephen recalled. "Although there could have been more... I dunno, I wasn't really watching their faces. And then there were all the various NUBG pilots that we fought.

"So you'd say, what, seventeen pilots total?"

"Assuming that the Matrix Dragon had its full crew, then yes." Stephen nodded. "Like I said, I didn't see any other Zoids, and it's not normally NUBG style to put more then one pilot in a Zoid, save for a Fuzor. The Killerdome had to be manned, and the Matrix Dragon went down over the wall, so they're the only ones I knew could have gotten away."

"You took a very big risk with using the tactical missiles on smaller Zoids there." The officer interjected. "You were aware that you could have seriously injured or killed some of the crew?"

"I was aware of that, and I did it anyway." Stephen replied, a determined tone in his voice. "They would have happily done the same to us in that situation, and I know that their pilots had no issues with shooting to kill. But it's more then that." He sighed. "I was willing to do whatever it took to get my team out of this situation. I didn't want to get anyone hurt, but I was more then willing to take a chance."

"I see." He finished. "And if you had the option, would you have attacked that Shadow Fox when it came to meet you?"

"No." He shook his head. "It may have helped me to feel better, but it wouldn't have helped Rose at all."

oOoOo

Rose tried not to look at the officer in the room, simply so he wouldn't see just how uncomfortable she was feeling. She didn't want to admit that she'd been scared stupid during that whole affair with the NUBG. She didn't want to admit that she'd almost wet her pants in terror when the gun was pressed into her back. She didn't want to admit how terrified she was that they were going to torture, rape or kill her just to make a point.

"Ms O'Bannon." The female officer began. "Could you explain to me exactly what happened?"

"Sure." She began. "I, uh, I was standing at the bus stop, minding my own business and the guy walked up to me and pressed a gun into my back." She shook her head. "He told me to go along with him, and I agreed; I wasn't about to do anything that was going to get me killed."

"You did the right thing." The officer replied. "Nobody is going to fault you for that."

_Yeah, except Vi would have just spin-kicked him to next week or something like that, _she thought. _And he'd have been beaten to a bloody pulp if he'd tried it on... _she shuddered. "Sure." She nodded.

"And what happened then?" The officer continued.

"They, um, marched me into a car. It had tinted windows, so I couldn't really see where we were going." Rose admitted. "I didn't see much of anything until I arrived in the NUBG base, where they marched me down to a holding cell."

"Did you get a good look at your assailant?"

Rose shook her head. "He had dark glasses, wore a dark suit and a dark hat. I didn't see much of his face... he kept his collar up a lot. Um, her looked to be a bit older, maybe mid-late thirties." She shook her head. "And he had black hair."

"Did you hear any names?" She asked.

"Um... they called each other Wyoming and Texas. That's probably not their real names, right?"

"Probably not, no." The officer shook her head. "But its a start. So what happened after that?"

"They, uh, they locked me in a cell in the NUBG headquarters." Rose explained. "They didn't tie me up or anything, though. And they gave me regulator meals and stuff."

"Did anyone tell you what was going on?"

"There was one woman who tried to reassure me or something like that. I didn't see her face and she didn't give me a name, but she seemed to be supporting or helping me. While she didn't free me or anything, she told me that I was relatively safe and that she'd make sure that nothing happened."

"Interesting. But she never identified herself?"

"No." Rose admitted.

"Understandable. So how long were you there?"

"I figure it was a couple of days." She continued. "I was told that I would be taking part in a battle, and that I would be using my Zoid. After a while, they shipped me out to that arena, where I waited until I was handed over to the team and, um, well, the battle started."

"I see. And we know what happened from there."

"I wish I could tell you more." Rose replied. "I didn't see anything going either way."

"That's fine." The officer finished. "Take your time."

oOoOo

"Hey, could I get a cup of water?" Neil asked.

"Certainly." The officer replied. He reached down, and handed Neil a bottle of water.

"Close enough, thanks." Neil finished, then took a sip.

"So Mister Notbob, can you explain what your part in all this was?"

"Cannon-fodder." Neil replied with a grin.

"I'm sorry?"

"I took shots, basically." He explained. "Or, if you like, the NUBG guys were shooting at me while I was concentrating on running and hiding and keeping myself alive. You know those guys don't try to avoid shooting the cockpit or the like, right?"

"We're well aware of that."

"Well put yourself in a Gunsniper then." Neil continued. "They're not exactly the most heavily armoured Zoids, and most everything those guys were packing was enough to kill me dead."

"We know that you participated in the battle." The Officer cut him off. "But we'd like to know what else you did."

"Like what?"

"Well..." he paused. "Well, what did you want to do when the NUBG made their demands?"

"Me?" Neil asked. "I didn't want to participate, simply because I knew those guys would pull a swift one on us and try to kill us dead or the like. And I knew that the odds of my getting killed or maimed were looking rather good all of a sudden."

"What I mean is, were you involved with the decision to take part in the battle."

"Sort of." He admitted. "I didn't want to be a part of it at all."

"So you were opposed to it."

"I was opposed to our taking part in it." Neil explained. "That doesn't mean I didn't willingly participate in it."

"But you still participated in it."

"Oh yeah." Neil nodded. "I wasn't about to leave Rose out to dry and save my own skin. I may be a coward, but I'm a coward with a sense of responsibility."

"I see." He paused. "And the Energy Liger, what can you tell me about it?"

"Only that I was scared out of my wits when it appeared." He admitted. "My Zoid was already banged up to all hell. I didn't want to be eaten by some nasty biting cat."

"But it didn't attack you."

"Yeah, and I'm thankful for that at least twice daily." Neil stated. "To an Energy Liger, a Gunsniper looks nicely snack sized."

"So you have no idea who the pilot is, though."

"Not at all." Neil shook his head,. "But if I ever meet him, I'll buy him a beer."

"Obviously, given what he did for you."

"That and I want to stay on his good side." Neil finished. "Because, you know... a guy drops out of the sky in a huge biting cat and tears up a dozen Zoids for no apparent reason other then they can. That's a guy you don't want to get pissed off at you."

oOoOo

"Back off, pig!" A voice called out over a PA system. "We ain't gonna back down! You ain't gonna take us!" A volley of fire rippled out form the abandoned construction site, blasting into the largely deserted street. The PKB's Arosaurers and Gorheks took a step back, letting the evacuated buildings and abandoned cars take the brunt of the fire.

"Yeah, baby, yeah!" A second voice called out. "We're the NUBG! We ain't gonna roll over and die!" Another volley of fire served to punctuate the statement, as well as tear up more real estate.

"Damn it." One Arosaurer pilot muttered. "Looks like they're going all survivalist nutcase on us."

"Wonderful." Another guy called back. "You know that the city council is going to love us for this."

"City Council can go stuff themselves." PKB chief Mal Loup began over the communicator. "What's the situation down there?"

"Thanks for that, cheif." He replied. "Okay, we've got the PKB headquarters building surrounded. There's still a number of guys inside; we can't say how many, but its a fair few. They've barricaded the entrances and have Zoids guarding the main one; we've got a Command Wolf LC, a cannon-equipped Heldigunner and a Dibison on the door, which is making approaching them very hard, to say the least. And, of course, everything's far too packed in for an air strike, which the city council would go spare over anyway."

"I hear you." Mal replied. "Hold your ground. I am on my way, ETA five and a half minutes."

"Roger that." He called back. "We'll hold until then and will not attempt to engage." His Zoid ducked back behind the building, eyeing the other members of his squad. Their Arosaurers and Gorheks held back, content to let the NUBG pilots fire several more rounds off and waste ammo. After a minute, they petered off, clearly realising that the PKB pilots weren't going to come out and face them in the open.

"Ah, what's the matter, piggie?" one pilot called out. "You afraid of getting hurt? Or is it that you're afraid of facing a real man?"

"Yeah, you gonna hide?" Another one called out. "You gonna stay there and hide, or ya gonna run home to mummy?"

"Come on... come on out and we'll show ya just what the NUBG can do. That is... unless yer afraid of us!"

None of the members of the PKB squad replied, instead standing their ground and waiting patiently. They were rewarded minutes later by a low, rhythmical thumping noise. The noise grew closer, like gigantic footfalls of some unimaginably large beast. A loud roar filled the air around the arena, like something calling out a challenge.

But the PKB pilots weren't afraid. "That's the chief." One guy began. "Now we'll show 'em."

Mal Loup's silver and blue Gojulas Giga simply stepped out into the road, facing the NUBG arena and the blockade in front of it. "This is the PKB!" He called out. "Power down your Zoids and come out with your hands up! This is your final warning!"

"Go to hell, piggie!" Somebody called back. The Command Wolf opened fire on the Giga, the Heldigunner and Dibison joining it a moment later. The Giga stood its ground, however, not even reacting to the shots. Instead, its Energy Shield flared to life, surrounding the Zoid with a brilliant blue barrier. The shots slammed into the shield, rounds exploding harmlessly and energy beams dissipating.

"I warned you!" He called back. "All units, open fire!" The Giga's shield dispersed as the Zoid lunged forwards, the twin silver Buster Cannons on its back firing on the enemy position. Around it, the other PKB Zoids stepped out form cover, pouring their own fire into the enemy barricade. The Buster shots struck home first, the barrier disintegrating in a spectacular ball of fire and debris while blasting into the NUBG Zoids, sending them reeling back. Additional shots poured in, further hammering the Zoids and bearing them down.

"Cease fire!" Mal called out, the PKB units around him stopping. He glanced over the enemy line; all there Zoids were down, the barricade was a pile of smoking debris and the front doors to the NUBG arena were blasted wide open. "Able squad, you're with me. We're heading on in! And get someone down here to round up those pilots."

The Giga charged forwards, letting out a bellowing roar as it headed into the building. A squad of Arosaurers and Gorheks charged in behind it, staying under the cover of the huge Zoid. Immediately inside the door was a large downwards ramp; built to accommodate Zoids, the Giga could easily fit through it. Glancing down, Mal saw a sign on the wall indicating that the main arena was straight ahead. "All right, follow me in!" Ahead of them loomed a pair of massive metal doors, the last line of defence before the arena proper. Activating its shield again, the Giga simply crashed straight into them, smashing them aside.

"They're here!" Somebody called out in panic. "Open fire!"

A Buster Tortoise rocked on its stubby legs as its massive Particle Cannon fired, the shot streaking straight at the Giga at near point-blank range. The shot hit the shield and dissipated, the shield flickering underneath the force of the blow then shutting off.

"His shield is down!" The Tortoise's pilot called out. "Take him - aaah!" He was cut off by a loud crashing noise as the Giga charged forwards, slamming its foot down on the smaller Zoid's back. The Tortoise's legs collapsed under their weight, then the Zoid simply crumpled, the huge particle cannon crushed beyond recognition.

"Get him! Get him!" Somebody shouted out in what sounded like blind panic. Several shots slammed into the Giga's neck and face, doing nothing more then marring the paint. The attacker, a red Sabre Tiger, charged forwards, lunging at the larger Zoid with its fangs bared to strike. It didn't get a chance, the Giga instead grabbing it in mid leap with its powerful claws. The massive Zoid roared, then wrapped its mouth around the Tiger's neck, snapping it shut. There was a tortured sound of metal being wrenched apart as the Sabre Tiger roared, then gurgled and went limp.

The Giga tossed it aside as a Barrigator opened fire on it with the twin beam cannons on its back. Hissing, the enemy Zoid backed off before being hammered in the side by a volley of shots form an Arosaurer. A Guysack joined it, only to be struck in the flank by a volley of Rockets form a Gorheks. The blasts tore several of the legs free from the Zoid's side, while the force of the blow flipped it over, sending it crashing to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs.

A shot from the other side of the arena managed to cut into the Giga's side, actually damaging the armour. The Zoid turned to face its attacker, a lone Diloforce that was hissing angrily at it, its neck frill extended. The Giga roared back, turning towards the impudent machine that had dared challenge it. The Diloforce seemed to shrink back, before its pilot simply leapt out of the seat and began running. Momentarily confused, the Diloforce was struck down by a hail of fire from an Arosaurer before it could respond.

Another pair of shots hit the Giga's back, not doing anything more then striking the armour but certainly getting his attention. Glancing behind him, he could see his attacker; a Shadow Fox armed with a CP-04 on its back. Before the Zoid could fire again, the Giga's tail swung at it,. smashing into its side. The force of the blow threw the Zoid across the arena, slamming it into the far wall, the CP-04 snapping off it. A second blow smashed into its body, crushing its structure.

"Wait!" A voice called out. Mal turned to the sound of it, seeing a lone Raysaurer standing by one of rhe arena gates, its cockpit open. The pilot was standing up, his hands in the air. "I, um, we surrender! Just... don't hurt us, please?"

"All right then." Mal snarled. "All units, stand down. And get us a couple of prisoner wagons in here... as well as some Gustavs." He glanced around at the devastated arena. "We got a lot of work to do here."

oOoOo

"Well, how's it going?" The officer asked as he stepped into the room. Jack Hindle was already there, watching an interview in progress through the window.

"Some of them are surprisingly cooperative." He replied. "Some of them aren't."

"Oh?"

"Just look." He indicated to the room where a young woman was sitting with a pair of PKB officers. She was short and slender, with limp black hair and too much makeup. She sported numerous pericings and was dressed in the sort of deliberately ragged clothes Hindle saw everyday, the 'standard' wear for someone trying to be 'different'. She also sported a black eye and had an icepack around her hand. "And before you say anything, she got those when her Zoid was destroyed. She was in the Dimetrodon."

"Let's not mess around here." One of the officers in the room began. "We found you climbing out of the cockpit of an NUBG Zoid. And if we test it, we'll find your fingerprints and your DNA all over it. And we're stripping its Black Box even now to check the records." He smiled. "So you're not going to get anywhere by playing innocent."

"Screw you, pig." She replied.

He shook his head. "We've got you on using a Zoid without a licence and participating in an unsanctioned battle. Those two are enough to put you away for a good time. You're also up as an accessory to kidnapping, which isn't going to help matters. To make it wose, Ms... Magro, you have a considerable record to begin with. Destruction of property, obstruction, vandalism, breaking and entering, assaulting PKB officers-"

"That was all peaceful protests, you facist pig." She replied. "I'm not the criminal here, you are."

"I hardly call smashing a window with a chair and then hitting a riot officer with it peaceful."

"You're all tools of the capitalist state!" She called out. "You're oppressing us so at the end of the day your bosses can get their money from the ZBC and the arms companies. This entertainment of yours is a joke, its mush that you use to keep the people happy so they wont realise how badly you're ripping them off! We're not terrorists or criminals, we're activists, but you've skewed the legal system so bad that we won't be anything!"

"This isn't helping-"

"Free the NUBG!" She called out. "Free the NUBG! Free the NUBG!"

Hindle shook his head. "She's been one of the worst. Most of them just refuse to talk."

"That bad?"

"Pretty much." He nodded. "Of the pilots we captured, most of them have pre-existing criminal records. Only three of them had Zoid licences, and a fourth one had his revoked. He is, in fact, a former ZBC pilot who was apparently disqualified. And one actually has a current licence." A beep cut him off. "Hold on." He picked up a phone and grunted a few replies.

"What's up, chief?" The Officer asked.

"We've got a visitor with us." He replied. "Someone from the ZBC has just come down to help identify our suspects." It was no surprise; the ZBC was more hen just a sports management company. It had to handle and supervise military grade weapons systems and their use by members of the civilian population. Their job was to regulate that, and prevent pilots from using their Zoids for anything but what was appropriate - chiefly Zoid battles. They worked hand-in-glove with the PKB to help deal with Zoid-related crimes.

The officer nodded. "So how are the others going?"

"We picked up a good number of technical staff which has helped matters. We also seized a number of recordings of the battle which, along with the Black Box data form the Zoids, should clear everything up over who was where. And, of course, there's their apparent boss."

"You know him?"

"He's nothing too major, or so we thought." He said as he handed over a file. "Michael Heywood, underground magazine magnate and former student activist." He began. "He's never had a proper job in his life, and has been bought up on sexual harassment charges several times. But there's nothing that suggested he'd end up running an illegal Zoid battle organisation and certainly nothing that suggested that he'd resort to kidnapping."

The officer looked over his file. "He quit his first job after one day?"

"He claimed unfair Woking conditions." Hindle replied. "Which were, by the way, that he had to work an eight-hour day."

"Nice."

"And that's what bothers me." Hindle continued. "He doesn't strike me as having the brains for this sort of thing. Sure he could dream up matches and the like but... run the NUBG? I dint think so. Yet what we've got suggests that he's the big boss."

"Who knows."

"That Energy Liger is still an issue." Hindle muttered. "Comparing information form different data sources, it would appear that the Zoid arrived in the arena well before we got the tip-off about the battle going on. So I don't think that the two are related... which makes me wonder who tipped us off."

"Stromer seems to think the Liger's pilot is a woman. Or at least, that's what I think she said. Its hard to tell." The officer replied as a buzz from the door cut him off.

"Come in." Hindle began.

The door opened, a woman in her early thirties entering. She had shoulder length red hair, green eyes, and was dressed in a sharply-cut black and grey suit. "Elissa Claybourne, ZBC." She began. "The PKB asked for someone to come down here and look over some of the people you bought in."

"Jack Hindle." He replied. "Thanks for coming down so quickly."

She shook her head. "I want to see the NUBG wrapped up just as much as you do, Mister Hindle."

"Jack, please."

"Sure." She smiled. "So how can I help you?"

"Basically, I want you to tell us if any of the guys we pulled in are know to your people; if any of them are legit ZBC members or known to you any other way."

"Anything to help out. What have you got?"

"If you want to take a seat?" He offered, indicating to a chair in front of a computer terminal. As she sat, he bought up a screen showing a mugshot of one of the pilots. "These are the NUBG people we bought in from the arena. Basically, we're hoping you can confirm the status of some of them."

"Certainly." She replied as she scrolled through the files. "I can't say that I recognise most of them, but there are a few that come up." She stopped on one screen. "This guy, Brock Hartford, was in the ZBC but dropped out at about the same time as this whole mess started. There was an unsubstantiated witness statement that said that he had gone over the NUBG, but that's about it. It would appear that it was true."

She pressed a few more buttons. "This one, Karen Hilderbrand, was in the ZBC but quit for personal reasons. She dropped out of site, and we lost track of her, but we never imagined that she'd end up in the NUBG." She shook her head. "Especially not piloting a brand new, top-of-the-line Zoid."

Another screen came up, then another. "These two, Julian Hatchett and Shane Adams are real pieces. Shane used to be in the ZBC and had worked up a fair number of fines and was heading for an official disqualification before he quit. We knew he was active in NUBG, but nobody could ever track him down. Julian Hatchett was turned down for a Zoid licence because of his violent past. Again, it's no surprise. We knew that those two were near the top of the NUBG pile."

"It seems like they've got a lot of people who couldn't make it in the ZBC."

"That's what it would appear." She added. Before a pilot could get a Zoid licence, they had to take a series of tests to determine if it was safe to let them pilot a Zoid. Besides obvious tests of coordination and ability, there were psychological assessments as well to determine if someone was mentally suitable. The last thing the ZBC wanted were black-obsessed trenchcoat-wearing maniacs wandering the streets with military grade hardware. Unfortunately it seemed that those people were the bread and butter to the NUBG.

"We'll send you down all we have on those who have records with the ZBC." She finished as she stood.

"Thanks for your time, Ms Claybourne." Jack replied.

"Not at all." She finished. "Thanks for letting me help shut these guys down." She glanced back at the screen. "The sooner we can be rid of these sorts of maniacs, the better."

oOoOo

Ron McGonnagle watched the situation as it unfolded on the TV News, getting a live feed from a helicopter flying over the scene. He could clearly see the construction site that housed the NUBG's headquarters, as well as the thick plume of black smoke billowing out form within it and the squadrons of PKB Zoids surrounding it. In the last few minutes a number of prisoner transport vehicles had arrived around the arena, suggesting to him that things were all over for the NUBG.

This was a development that he was far from happy with. He knew that the NUBG's sudden demise would cause him a lot of problems. If Heywood had been caught - and while there were no reports to that effect, it was a distinct possibility - he could easily be implicated in a lot of their fair from savoury businesses. If Heywood talked, then the PKB would have enough on him to lock him away for a few decades, a prospect that McGonnagle did not relish.

As soon as he'd heard the reports of the big raid on the arena yesterday afternoon, he'd gone hard to work destroying every shred of evidence that he could think of that would link him to the NUBG. He'd trashed hundreds of computer files, then gone to great lengths to physically destroy any backup disks or the like that the data could be recovered from. He'd also destroyed a large amount of paperwork, burning as much of it as he could. His vast collection of NUBG battles on disk had also been destroyed, crushed along with everything else.

He'd gone to great lengths to destroy his phone as well, just so they couldn't link him to Heywood. He'd shoved it in a blender, then thrown out both the phone and the blender just to make sure.

Now that he was back in the office, he was going over everything he kept there just to make sure that there was noting at all that could be used as evidence to connect him to the NUBG. He'd already spent hours going over every last file on his office computer, and was now going over the paperwork in his office just to make sure. He wasn't going to take any chances at all.

"Hey Ron." A voice began, interrupting his desperate search through the filing cabinets. Looking up, he could see Elissa Claybourne standing in the door to his office. "You're working hard, for once."

He grimaced at her comments; he and Elissa had always had a somewhat adversarial relationship at work. He didn't like the fact that she had been promoted past him for being a former Zoid pilot, something that he thought shouldn't factor into her office life. But then he didn't like Zoid pilots in general, which hadn't helped matters. That she was still popular and often did public work for the ZBC, despite not having been an active competitor for years, only made things worse for him.

"Well, its a buys time of year, what with the finals and all that coming up." He grunted out. "I've got a lot to do."

"Take it easy today." She replied dismissively. "Everyone else is."

He'd noticed that there'd been an almost party-like atmosphere over the office so far today, likely form the news that the biggest threat to the organisation - as well as their only rival - had apparently just been destroyed. It wasn't something he liked; he personally was far from happy at the news, but at the same time, he had to play along that it was a good thing.

He'd liked working with the NUBG. True, it had helped line his pockets, something that he couldn't argue with, but it was more then just that. It had been exciting to do sorting illegal, to go against the law and do what was considered to be 'wrong'. He'd liked being Heywood's informant, liked the danger and the risk and the excitement. It was, to his mind, what being a spy was all about - big risks, bit thrills and big payoffs.

Now he was in real trouble.

"I'd love to but, you know, I have lots of work to do here." He snapped. "You know, work, what we're meant to be doing."

Elissa seemed to ignore him for the moment. "You heard that, amongst others, they caught those tow NUBG guys who had been doing all those raids?" She began. "Including the initial attack on that team which started everything off."

"You mean the Dark Spiner and Hailsturm Liger?" He asked. "They got them?"

"Hailsturm?" She asked. "What the hell?"

"You know, the blue and gold Liger with the Electric generators." He explained.

"That's a Liger Zero X." She shook her head.

"I thought it was called a Hailsturm, and the red one was the X."

"No, ita a fan-created name." She continued. "Somebody started it and it got out of control from there. It's chiefly used in bad movies, which explains its popularity amongst idiot fanboys."

"Oh." He replied, a little dejected at the comparison.

"Anyway, apparently the PKB is trying to pump them and every other NUBG pilot they caught for as much info as possible so thy can completely close down the NUBG." She continued. "So hopefully they'll also be able to find and plug that leak within our office." She smiled in a way that made him wonder if she knew more then she was letting on. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Yes, yes it would." He finished.

She nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to it then. But we're having drinks after work if you're interested."

"Thanks." He muttered, waiting for her to leave before getting back to work.

A few minutes later, his mobile rang. He picked it up, but couldn't recognise the number that it was displaying for the caller. Curious, he furrowed his brow and he picked it up. "Ron McGonnagle here."

"Good to hear from you, Ron." The female voice on the other end began. It was a smooth, almost seductive tone.

"Can I ask who this is?" He replied calmly.

"Let's just say that I'm... a friend of a mutual acquaintance of ours." She continued, sounding very pleased with herself. "An acquaintance that has recently found himself on hard times."

He instantly knew what she meant. "Lady, you have the wrong number. I'm not interested-"

"I wouldn't be so hasty to hang up on me, Mister McConngagle." She continued. "You see, I know all about your past. I know all about what you did for our mutual friend. And I know that you aided and abetted in a kidnapping. That's a serious criminal charge, Mister McGonnagle. One that could you get you in a lot of trouble."

He could feel sweat pouring down his brow. "What... what do you want?" He asked.

"Your cooperation." She replied.

"I can't do it. Its way too risky. Everyone already suspects something-"

"Wouldn't it be better that there is a risk of you being caught then it being a definite fact, Mister McGonangle?" She continued. "Wouldn't you prefer to remain working for us then end up behind bars? After all, I know that there are a lot of people who would be... eager to meet you."

"All right." He gasped. "What do you want?"

"For now?" She paused. "Nothing. But I do want you to stay on as our man in the NUBG. I will ask you for information, and you will supply it to us. In turn, I will keep you out of jail. Doesn't that seem fair?"

"Yes, yes it does." he managed.

"Very good." She finished. "Bye!" The line went dead.

Ron swallowed loudly, then mopped his brow. Glancing over his pile of loose files again, he began to think about his options. The problem was, he didn't see that he had any.

oOoOo

Rachel closed the mobile phone and smiled to herself. She considered that McGonnagle, for all his faults, was still a useful asset. Having a contact high up in the PKB's hierarchy would definitely be a bonus, and one that she could more tightly control moreso. The fact that she had McGonnagle wrapped around her finger even though he had never met her in person was quite enjoyable to her. He had no idea of who was manipulating him, while she knew all that he needed. Perfect.

In many ways, she preferred this approach. Heywood's ham-fisted style had cost him the organisation that she'd worked so hard to run, the one that she'd spent so much time and effort on keeping viable. He'd created NUBG, certainly, but she'd been doing all the work, transforming it form a bunch of sweaty idiots filming on handicams to the criminal enterprise it had, until recently, been. She had been upset to see it destroyed, certainly. Its uses weren't at an end, and there were a lot of people who she still could have used. Heywood, of course, wasn't one of them. His usefulness was largely limited to making an arse of himself and keeping attention off her, something that she liked.

Of course, she wasn't one to dwell in the past. Move on, adopt, adapt and improve. The NUBG was done for; there was no denying it. Its remaining base had been taken, and by her estimate three-quarters of its people were now in custody, including almost all their pilots. What annoyed her was that most of the pilots that she'd wanted to remain were amongst them. Still, she could deal with that later.

For now, she had work to do. The NUBG had left behind a powerful legacy, one that she wished to exploit for her own ends.

She stepped into a darkened room, standing in the middle of a semicircle composed of several dozen monitors. One by one, the screens came to life, each displaying the head and shoulders of an individual. She couldn't see their faces, but she already knew who they all were. It was an eclectic collection of figures, one that would not normally make much sense to be working together. Such was the brilliance of what she had done for the NUBG in creating such a diverse alliance of people. There were businessmen, arms dealers, nobles, media moguls, military officers and activists, all of whom had been drawn in to the NUBG.

All of whom she now controlled.

Her face was hidden from them just as theirs was form her, the difference however was that none of them knew who she was. This was another advantage, one that she intended to exploit to its fullest. "Gentlemen." She began. "I thank you all for coming here so quickly, given the situation. I wish to discuss with you the future of the NUBG, and what it means to you."

"As has been clear, the NUBG has suffered a series of severe, probably fatal seatbacks in the last twenty-four hours. We have lost our arena, our leader and the majority of our people. Yet the organisation itself, the core of its being, still survives."

"The PKB is investigating the NUBG, trying to find where the money came from. Obviously, there is the risk that they will eventually return to you, our valued backers. This is something we obviously want to prevent at all costs." She paused, then smiled to herself, almost relishing what she was about to do.

"I can understand that your immediate urge will be to pull out of NUBG. It's understandable; given the situation. However, I urge you not to. Not just because I believe the NUBG has a chance to survive and rebuild, but for your own protection." And now came the part she had practiced. "At the moment the PKB are searching for anything that could track the NUBG's backers. Anything. Any sudden financial moves you make could be traced by them. If you were to withdraw from the NUBG, then people will notice."

She smiled confidently. "So, in order to maintain your secrecy, I implore you to remain with us. Keep the money flow as you have kept it for the last few years, and nobody will notice."

What she didn't add was that anyone who suddenly backed out would definitely, receive a visit from the PKB. In fact, she hopped someone would, just to teach the others an object lesson.

"With your help, and some patience, I'm sure that we can all pull through this. The NUBG has been wounded, yes, but I know that it can recover... with your assistance, of course."

oOoOo

Jack Hindle entered the room, a confident smile on his face for once. While he had been content to hold back so far and watch the other interviews, this was ons that he had wanted to do himself. They'd held off on doing it until they had taken the NUBG headquarters just so they'd have enough on this guy to nail him for good.

Michael Heywood sat in the room, grinning smugly. He was slumped in his chair, his beer gut sticking out even more, his baseball cap perched jauntily on top of his head. Despite the severity of the situation, he seemed to be rather happy, as if he knew something that nobody else did. Next to him was a sharp-faced lawyer, an odious man in a suit that Jack took an instant disliking to.

"Mister Heywood." Jack began as he took a seat. "You were apprehended by the PKB while inside the arena. There's forensic evidence to place you on site during the battle. A witness has matched your voice to both the voice of the announcer for the battle and the voice that delivered the original ransom demand. And we have a slew of other suspects who will gladly point the finger at you." He looked over ad Michael. "Now the easiest thing to do would be to save us some time and simply confess to everything. The evidence is pretty irrefutable."

"I deny everything, Inspector Hindle." Heywood replied with a smirk. "I'm just a simple bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You're telling me that you were inside an abandoned arena that was being used by the NUBG for an illegal battle purely by chance? What is it, you were just visiting?"

"I was taking a drive through the countryside and I saw the arena in the distance. Curious, decided to pop in for a look around, I was on the verge of leaving when your Storm troopers barged on in and arrested me." He put a hand up. "Now I am willing to admit that I was trespassing on private property, and I will happily take any penalties that it may entail."

"You were driving through the desert in a black limousine?" Hindle asked.

"Is there a law against it?" Heywood replied. "Certainly I didn't know there was. Last I heard, I could drive any car through the desert if I wanted too."

"And then would you know why the starter on your Limousine had been disabled?" Hindle continued. "Someone had deliberately disabled your car, which meant that you couldn't leave. They had cut the lines."

This seemed to catch him by surprise. He blinked for a moment, before continuing. "Well, that NUBG is supposed to be full of criminal types. Maybe somebody did it for a joke." He glanced at his lawyer. "Certainly I can't see why they would otherwise. And if I was a member of this NUBG, well, who else would have done it?"

"Who else indeed." Hindle commented.

"Now I'm willing to put my hand up to the charges of trespassing." He continued. "It's a fair cop, and I will admit that I am in the wrong there." He smiled. "Now, by my watch, it's been nearly forty-eight hours since you apprehended me. Which means that you'll have to let me go soon unless you've got something concrete on me."

Hindle sighed. "You're paying top dollar for that lawyer, right?"

"Mister Howe is one of the best in all of the city." He replied. the lawyer nodding in agreement.

"So can I ask how you're planning to pay for his services?" He continued.

"You can check my finances." Heywood replied, smugly. "You'll see that, despite being a struggling magazine writer, I'm doing adequately."

"Well, the thing is, Mister Heywood, that we have checked your account." Hindle explained.

"See?"

"And we found that it was empty."

Heywood sat upright. "What?" He shouted out.

"Your personal account was emptied out three days ago, which would be at some point after you kidnapped Ms O'Bannon." Hindle continued. "Not only that, but records we've found in the NUBG Arena indicate that all their funds were liquidated at the same time. As a result, the NUBG doesn't have a single cent to its name, and neither do you."

"But... but..." He stammered, then glanced at his lawyer, a socked look on his face. "But..."

"From where we're sitting, it looks to me like you engineered this outrageous act to destroy the NUBG from within, then make off with all the money yourself as soon as it looked bad. That way, you'd get to retire rich and infamous and living off the ill-gotten gains of all your employees." Hindle explained. "And all your employees would cop it when we hauled it in. Unfortunately for you, someone else took it upon himself to sabotage your car so you'd get caught and he'd get away with the loot."

"That's... that's insane!" He called out. "I never took any money out of any of those accounts."

"It's all down here if you want to take a look." Hindle slid a list of documents towards Heywood. "As far as I can tell, you deliberately destroyed NUBG because you knew that we'd hunt them down after this. Kidnapping is too severe an offence for us to overlook, Mister Heywood."

Sweat ran down his forehead as he read over the financial reports. "But... but i would never deostry the NUBG." He began. "I... I created it."

"So you admit that you're a part of the NUBG then?" Hindle began.

"I think that my client and I need a quick word, Inspector." Howe finally spoke up.

"Take all the time you need." Hindle replied as he stood. "And just call when you're ready."

He left the room, stepping into the control booth. Glancing through the window, he looked at the pair of them taking. Heywood was a mixture of livid rage and fear as he began to realise that not only was he caught, but that someone else had done the dirty on him. Howe, on the other hand, looked rather unimpressed, especially given that the man who was meant to be paying him was clearly unable to do such.

"I think we've got him." Hindle commented to himself, and smiled.

oOoOo

It had taken some hours for the PKB to finish processing the team's witness statements and all the evidence they given in person. Between the four of them, the members of the Broken Chairs figured that they'd given enough info to put away the NUBG pilots - and their boss - for good. The PKB were still pouring over their Zoids, both for their Black Box data and physical examinations of damage dealt, but it seemed that their involvement in this investigation was over for now.

With the apparent end of the NUBG, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders. From what they'd gathered, almost all of the organisation's Zoids were destroyed, disabled or in PKB custody. Their main headquarters had been captured, along with their leadership and the vast majority of their people. In essence, there was nothing left of them. Sure, there might be a handful of Zoids and pilots running around, but they were disorganised and would be on the run.

The PKB had assigned a team to watch them just in case something happened, but it seemed to be inconsequential and, more to the point, somewhat redundant. As Neil observed, the remaining NUBG members were more liable to be running and hiding then trying any sort of crazy revenge attacks, especially now that they had the PKB's full force bearing down on them. He'd added that not even NUBG's members were that stupid, something that even Rose had agreed with.

So they'd decided instead to go out and have a bit of fun. As it was already late in the day, they'd headed to the one pub near their place that they'd been to on their first night together as a team, the one where they'd first decided to work together. It was a friendly place, it had a nice atmosphere, it held pleasant memories and, probably the most importantly overall, the burgers there were great.

"So, near as I can figure, this whole 'kidnap me and use me for the ultimate revenge trip' thing was a random, spur of the moment decision." Rose commented after taking a bite of her burger. "And it kind of backfired on them."

"Naw, I'd say it worked out fine." Neil quipped as he lifted a chip from her plate. "You see, the idea was to get revenge on us by completely dismantling their organisation. It should have been obvious form day one that's what they were planning."

"Y'all reckon?" Tasch asked.

"Oh yeah." Neil nodded. "You see, the goal was to show us what they were capable of by destroying their organisation. That way we'd be afraid of them because they'd prove how badarse they were. Anyone who is willing to go to those lengths to prove a point must be hardcore. And sure as hell, they proved it." He smirked. "We'll never, ever, mess with NUBG again."

"Yeah, you're right." Tasch commuted. "They did prove their point... cause I don't think we're ever gonna have to fight 'em again." She nodded. "'cause, what with them being sorta broken up and all, they're not going to be a threat."

"Exactly." Stephen spoke up. "And that alone makes all we've been through worth it."

"That's surprisingly civil of you." Rose commented.

"I mean it." He explained. "Their being shut down isn't just a benefit to us. It means that nobody will ever have to go through what we did again. They're no longer a threat to anyone at all."

"But..." Tasch spoke up. "What if someone tries to re-from them?" She began. "Like they come back as the Neo-NUBG or something like that... y'know, they come back an' try to attack again... like its a sequel or something."

"I see..." Neil began.

"'cept, like a sequel, they can't get all the original people back, so it's not as good." She nodded. "An' then they're not as capable. 'cause they try to do all the same stuff again only a little bigger, but it ends up lookin' real bad. So, the Neo-NUBG, while it'd be a bad thing, thy wouldn't be quite so dangerous and stuff. "

"An amusing idea, Tasch." Neil smirked. "I'm sure it can be the direct to video sequel to the crappy movie based on our life story."

"That wouldn't be too bad." Rose commented. "I mean, if thy cast me well."

"Yeah, but they'd really play up the romance thing." He continued. "Um, not that there was any." He shook his head. "And probably get Tasch a love interest too, and I'd have to be the plucky and funny buddy who buys it half way to spur you on. Great." He took another chip from Rose's plate. "Still, the moneys would be good."

"Speaking of moneys..." Rose spoke up. "What are we doing from here?"

"Sorry?" Neil asked.

"All our Zoids are severely banged up and, more to the point, the PKB are still holding them as evidence. We're meant to have a next round battle in a few days but, as I see it, it's not like we're going to be in any fit state to participate in it."

"Yeah... I ain't had a good chance to look at 'em, but, well, our Zoids are kinda a mess right now." Tasch agreed. "I mean, heck, my Redler can't fly, an' that's some of the least of our worries."

"So what so you suggest we do?" Neil asked, glancing at Stephen.

He shook his head. "Sadly, I have to agree with Tasch on matters. We're not in any state to take part in the next round. Even if we did have access to them, we don't have the time to get our Zodis back together and, frankly, I'm exhausted. Neil, Tasch and I pulled an all-nighter to get them back in shape, and then we went through what's the hardest battle of your career."

"What are you saying?" Rose asked. "We should drop out?"

He nodded solemnly. "I don't want to force you too, though. I want to know what you all think."

"It's a big step." Neil began. "But I'm afraid I must agree. I'm buggered, and I know that we're not going to achieve much. We could run in there, sure, but we'd get smacked down in half finished Zoids, and not achieve a thing."

"Yeah, well, I gotta agree." Tasch added. "I jus' don't think we can get ourselves into a state where we can be effective. Our Zoids, well, they're kinda bust now."

Rose glanced around the table. "When we started this team, I was very pushy, very arrogant. I'll admit that much." She started. "I wanted just to be the best we could and to win everything, simply so it'd make me look good. I'll admit that there was some family pressure but, well, a lot of it was me."

She put her hands up. "We've done incredibly well this year." She continued. "For a rookie team, we've managed to get a long way. Reaching the semis is better then most first time teams ever do. Reaching the finals would have been great."

Rose smiled. "But we need to be realistic. You guys, well, you've been through a lot for me. And I thank you for that." She swallowed. "I, uh, I was going to actually suggest this myself. After all that, well, I'm tired, I'm still a little stressed and I'm a touch nervy. I really don't think that I'd be any good to anyone now."

"I understand." Stephen nodded. "In fact, of all of us, you've had it the worst."

"Well... I kinda do feel guilty about it. After all, I got us all into this mess to start with." She sighed. "I shouldn't have listened to Ariel..."

"Don't blame yourself, Rose." Neil said. "Its not like you knew what was going on. And you couldn't have expected anyone to have pulled a move that dumb."

"Sure." She nodded.

"So it settles. First thing tomorrow morning, we tell the ZBC we're pulling out. I'm sure they'll be accommodating, given the circumstances." He concluded.

"And tell you what, as a way to make it up to ya all, let me at least buy a round of drinks." Rose added. "Its the least I can do. Same again?"

She collected the orders, walking over to the bar. She could feel a little disappointed at the situation, but at the same time she knew that it needed to be done. It wasn't a heroic end to the season, but it was one where they got to leave with their heads up and say that they'd at least tried. _And besides, how many other people can say they fought the NUBG at three-on-one and won?_

Reaching the bar, she placed her order and waited as the barman fumbled around. "Hey." A voice behind her began, grabbing her attention. She turned around, only to come face to face with a pair of narrow violet eyes.

"Uh, Jill.." She began. "Good to see you again."

"Yeah." Jull replied, with a grin. "And you too..."

"So, um, how have you been?" She asked.

Jill glanced off into the distance for a moment, then looked back. "Pretty busy, yeah. Up to... stuff. You?"

"Same, really." Rose nodded. "You know, stuff."

"Hmm..." She looked away again. "Yeah, I heard you had an interesting time the other day. A little bit of a battle... and then, next thing you know, there's Zoids on the street and stuff. Funny that."

"Yeah, werll... umm..." Rose replied.

"Say, is that your team out there?" Jill cut her off. "I've been wanting to meet them for ages."

"Jill, I-" Rose began, but the other woman didn't reply. She instead strode past Rose, heading out to the table. Rose glanced around, then grabbed their drinks and headed out after her. "Ah hell. This isn't what I need right now..."

She caught up with the other woman just as Jill reached the table. "Sooo... this is the Broken Chairs team, huh?" Jill began. "Pleased to meet you all."

"Uh, forgive me for asking this..." Neil spoke up. "But who the hell are you?"

"Wait a moment." Stephen interjected. "You're Jill Constantine, aren't you? You went from rookie to champion in just a single year."

"Yeah, that's me." She replied with a grin that made her look like she was about to bite. "You guys sound like an interesting team... and you've got some degree of success. I mean, quarters in your rookie year is something you can be proud of. A lotta guys try it but, well, they just don't measure up."

"Well thanks." Tasch added with a nod.

"Yeah, well." Jill continued as Rose approached. "But then, with my family, I should have expected it." She grinned. "After all, I have a sister that did almost as well as I did in her first year."

"Jill I-" Rose began.

"So I figured my other sib would handle things better."

"Other sibling?" Neil glanced around, then noted Jill's eyes. "Hey Tasch, she's Nyxian, right?"

"Well, I guess, yeah." Tasch added. "Why do y'all ask?"

"Well, she said sibling and-"

"Heck, I ain't never seen her before." Tasch shook her head. "Well, save fer that one time when she was buying liger parts. But I didn't know who she was then."

"Her?" Jill shook her head. "Hell no. We don't have anything in common besides country of origin."

"Uh, Jill?" Rose began.

"What I mean to say is Rose here." She grabbed Rose puttign an arm around her shoulder. "My baby sis. Well, half-sister. Which means that Violet is my other sister."

"Half sister?" Stephen asked.

"Jill-" Rose again tried to interject.

"Same father." Jill continued casually. "He had a fling with a Nyxian pilot before he ever met Rose's mum. I was the result, but he didn't know for some time. So there you go."

"And you pilot an Energy Liger, which makes sense." Tasch finished. "Seign as Rose an' Violet use Liger Zeros, an' they're related. Heck, Energy Liger's like LZ's bigger half brother, really, bein' based on the same Wild Zoid an' stuff."

"Yeah.. you did, didn't you?" Stephen continued. "In fact you were famous for being about the only person to ever use one in competition."

Jill cocked her head for a moment. "Yeah, I did." She shrugged. "So?"

"Well, there was that Energy Liger that was following us around." Neil observed.

"An' you were buyin' a whole buncha Energy Liger parts when I saw you." Tasch added. "The sorta stuff you'd need to replace if you were usin' it actively a lot. Them Ligers, they're maintenance hogs."

"Well, maybe." Jill cocked her head. "I do like a good fight... and I didn't ever like those underground battle types."

"You... you were watching out for me?" Rose asked. "You were protecting me from the NUBG? That's... really nice of you Jill. Thanks."

Jill turned back to her sister. "Oh that?" She began. "I was just seeing a chance to sink my fangs into those clowns. I didn't even know it was you." She shrugged. "There you go."

Rose almost sagged at the reply. "Gee, thanks, Jill." She finished.

"Anytime." Jill beamed. "Just a pity those clowns are out of action now... I might need a new hobby." She considered matters.

"Well, y'all could always go back to Zoid battles." Tasch spoke up. "I mean, seeing as you were a singles champ, you could try bein' on a team."

"I don't think that'd work." Rose muttered. "Jill never did play well with others."

"Should we be encouraging her?" Neil added, glancing at her. "I mean... She doesn't exactly strike me as-"

"Shut it, Neil." Stephen cut him off.

"Shutting it." he replied.

"Yeah..." Jill finished. "That would work. Yeah..." She grinned again. "Great idea. I love it."

"Thanks." Tasch finished.

"Well, I guess I'll be off then. I've got a team to build." She smiled. "See you all next year in the arena." She turned and walked off.

"See ya!" Tasch waved at her.

"Well that was weird." Neil finally spoke up.

"No, that was my sister." Rose added.

"I see why you never mentioned her." Neil continued.

"Neil!"

"No, he's right." Rose shook her head. "What am I meant to say, meet my sister the madwoman?"

"Well, it could work." Tasch spoke up.

"I tell you what." Neil continued. "That's what I expected out of a Nyxian. Kinda scary, possibly crazy. Nothing like you, Tasch."

"I try." She replied dismissively.

"So..." Rose continued. "We're still going for it next year then?"

"I see no reason why not." Stephen shook his head. "We've got a lot more experience under our belts. We've got a far batter idea of what we're doing. We're a lot better set up and we know the competition. And, as a bonus, we won't have NUBG gunning for us."

"Amen to that." Neil finished. "So I'm all for it."

"Same here." Tasch nodded. "I wanna give it another shot, this time without any badness tryin' to get at us."

"So then." Rose raised her glass. "To next season then."

"To next season." They all replied, then took a drink.

Rose looked over the table at her friends, the people who she had worked and lived with for the last six months. She considered all that they'd been through and all that they'd achieved. _Not bad, really, _she thought to herself. _Not bad at all._

oOoOo

_So that's about the end of it, Siske. _Tasch wrote later that evening. _We're staying together as a team, and entering the competition again next year. I figure that it's been a very wild year, and not at all like what I'd expected. Well, that is, I hadn't expected to end up fighting NUBG at all, or have somebody following us and hoping that we'd fight NUBG just so they could also fight NUBG. So it's all kinda strange._

_I'm going back home for a holiday during the off-season. I want to catch up with mum and dad, as well as have a little holiday as such. I know that your job needs you to travel a lot, but it'd be nice if I could say hi to you in person if you got the chance, what with us having not seen each other in ages and all that._

_Rose is also going back to spend some time with her family, but I think that's partway because they have a beachfront holiday house and she wants to spend some time relaxing there. It sounds like a neat idea, even if It's not something I would do (The sun's just way too bright there, and I like the pebbly rocky beaches like we get back home still). She says she also wanted to talk to her family about Jill, but I don't know why. Everyone seemed to think that Jill was strange, but I thought she was pretty neat._

_Stephen says he's going to have a holiday as well. He's pretty happy about what happened, even though we did quit the competition and all that. Its kind of odd, as I'd expected him to be really angry like he always is. He says that he's a lot more mellow then he used to be, and that beating up the NUBG guys like that was kind of cathartic for him. So I guess that's all okay then. Not sure where he's heading for now, but I'm sure that he'll have a decent time._

_Neil says he's going to bum around here or maybe go see some touristy places near the city, but he has no plans. That's kind of okay, and something I like. He seems to be happy to just go where he wants and see what happens, which is actually quite cool. He says he's determined to come back and do better next season, and he says he'll try not to get trashed as much. That's weird, as he got knocked out less times then Rose._

_Anyways, I'd best be off as I got stuff to do. All my love, and I hope to see you later._

_Tasch._

She sent the e-mail, then sat back in her chair looking over the computer screen. "Yeah." She thought. "Its been a pretty cool year."

oOoOo

**Author's Notes:**

This is the end of the first part of PMF. There will be some more, but it'll be a while coming. For now, I'm going to sit back and maybe concentrate on some other things. But the Broken Chairs will be back. Really.

Special thanks go to Zogster for conceptual ideas and story help, as well as figuring out where a number of the characters were heading. Thanks also to Tilly for serving as an Evil Editor and a lot of other ideas and concepts that worked out well. Also Also thanks go to Rantanian and Orange for some criticism, advice and Ego Stroking, as well as assistant Evil Editor Duties.

There may yet be an Ego Stroking "Author's Commentary" to come where I explain things and try to describe how it all worked out. In the meantime, if you can figure out all the references hidden in the story, you get a cookie.

Rick R, March 2006

I want a black Redler, dammit.


End file.
